I don't want to discourage you from trying to learn or get into a new field but if your investor is approaching you to be their buyer's agent, I would decline.

Rents have gone up considerably in the last few years which makes my property more valuable but if there is a decline in rents I could get myself in a lot of trouble if I was leveraged myself to the max at the peak of the current cycle.  

If one is on the rise and the other on the decline you could end up owning a lot with a shell on it plus very high back taxes and City fines.  

Basically you would want to start looking for markets with high crime and population decline.

In addition, Cleveland has experienced long term population decline (since at least the the 1970s). 

I’m in a similar position as you; I don’t have my first property yet, but I have made an offer but it was declined.

Over the past many years, since the Great Recession, the overall national and Wake County NC default rate has declined considerably.

It historically has but historically there have also been short periods where the market declines. 

On the 5 year assets you can accelerate depreciation with double declining balance so instead of getting 20% depreciation per year on those assets the first year is 40% of their initial cost basis and then 40% of the adjusted basis in later years until fully depreciated.

Your property may not make as high ROI a year in cash flow but the value of the property rises substantially as these are solid areas with no sign of decline.