They will pay a mortgage all their life and never reap the reward financially.

It also depends on what the owner’s expectation is as far as risk/reward.

Also in terms of reward/risk, this is the era that's preferable to invest in :- investing in debt is way better (regardless it's real estate debt or any other activity debts)- investing in Gov. and corp. bonds and also TIPS- investing in CD.While avoiding investment in syndication, especially in office space area.Hotel syndication, however, seems way better post covid era.Investing in alternative debt acquisition is good way too to capture the commercial side that's falling due to cap rate issue.Everyday is a different day, some day it's good to purchase a regular house, and rental, but there are day where it's good to buy commodity, when too buy coal mining company, when  to buy tech stock and to buy bank stock.

It is a lot of risk for not a great reward. 

Doing these things wasn't easy or convenient for me or my family, but we're doing it now so we can reap greater rewards in the future.

That has to be embarrassing, losing like that I mean.Plus the investors who knowingly went in on variable rate deals, I'm sure knew the risk (risk reward).Sometimes though, still a man hears what he want's to hear and disregards the rest (Simon and Garfunkel).That's why I prefer to stay on the conservative end of things--stability.I think this is one of their places that was foreclosed on.https://www.google.com/maps/picsFrom an industry eye, I can see right away they are having financial issues. 

Your first rental can seem very daunting, but if you take the time to make the necessary preparations the pay off will be very rewarding.

Biggest risk, biggest reward.

So, if you are o-kay with giving up all your cash so that you make zero return on it (besides appreciation) for 10 years, then you will be greatly rewarded after year 10.ORYou can put down 20% ($50K) on 3-4 properties and begin cash flowing immediately.

I'm more into HI STR or long term flips/BRRRR for higher-end homes these days.CF would always problematic since 2018, if you focus on CF only you may not get the best reward/risk in this economy environment. 200 dollar is too low for me when I could make 200-300k.So when Fed pivots, there's this "transient times" when price drops, especially for the tired seller, it's ample opportunity to fix and wait a few years before the rate goes back to normal.