And, real estate tends to "wobble" quite frequently these days haha.

Lower-income renters tend to generate significantly higher maintenance and turnover costs.

Good STR areas are often times desirable places to live as well, so prices tend to be higher in my experience. 

But they're more difficult to manage because of a lesser renter pool and the appreciation tends not to be as great. 

Raising rent tends to be more of an art than a science.

In comparison, when buying real estate you have a guaranteed asset because, unlike the stock market, during inflation, real estate prices tend to increase too so it is clear why some people prefer owning real estate over any other type of investment.While investing in a single, high-risk stock may pay off big rewards, diversifying your portfolio is key to protecting your wealth.

I tend to recommend some of the secondary markets to the investors that I work with where the growth is obvious and the properties still cashflow.  

Could probably cut that down a little but I tend to underwrite conservatively. 

Mom and Pop shops are not that great at accounting and the numbers tend to look like they can't afford to live so take that in to account plus the operations they are doing. 

I tend to agree, I hate to lose all of my passive income just to eliminate my primary mortgage. just out of curiosity, what makes you say that an HOA is a hindrance?