Seattle metro area where I live is seeing the biggest building boom in apartments since the mid to late 1980's.  

On the Pinellas side of the bay, STRs are booming in occupancy and more and more people are investing in them. 

I've read too many stories of people getting over-leveraged, you have a bad run for a couple of months with evictions, move-outs, and repairs, and boom - the house of cards falls.I do know someone who had a rental property paid off, and used a HELOC against it to purchase another rental.

I just didnt appreciate being someone elses bill collector.

I don't know about Albany, but in my neck of the woods, tenants are paying 2 X over PITI (principal, interest, taxes, and insurance.Here is why: After the housing boom, there have been several years of massive underdevelopment of housing--so there is less supply.

BOOM!

Which is why I always stick to email for business related topics, and that is why I'm not exactly booming in this business like I could be.

I agree that the National picture should get bleaker due the boom bust timing of local markets just entering the party.

The vast majority of newbies fail and that is even more pronounced with long-distance landlords (even if you have local management).During the boom, we had a bunch of California landlords here in my area.

It has gone through 3 Major booms and busts.