And if there was one, why’d it take that long to get one where EMD was in danger?

The only danger there if the purchase price goes above appraisal price.

That will make conventional financing easier, and have fewer potential downsides, with the upside of being able to learn while doing.

There are significantly fewer stocks, and a fraction of the shares available to purchase on the exchanges from 20-30 years ago. 

I found some areas with lower priced houses in less dangerous neighborhoods within driving distance.

You currently have a good amount of cash and little knowledge or experience, which can be a dangerous place to be ... caveat emptor my friend.

Just because there are fewer buyers or what?

At the most basic level, the higher interest rate on my investment purchases means that my monthly mortgage payment is going to increase, which means a DECREASE in monthly cash-flow.Theoretically though, a rising interest rate for home-buyers could mean fewer people can afford to buy their own homes and will be forced to rent longer... which means rents could increase with that demand...

Not destructive, dangerous, etc but chronically late and always someone else's fault.  

I am from Medford, MA and wanted to say hello to everyone.I have been listening to the BP podcast religiously and am very interested in growing my small real estate empire.I am looking at multi-family homes, specifically 5+ units as I feel they require more money down, hence the benefit is fewer people can afford the down payment versus 1-4 unit homes.I started a meetup [dot] com that I hope to meet a lot of you at as BP says to do so, so if you are meetup person please search for real estate investing and lets meetup.