if you want to invest in real estate, you must be prepared to deal with increasing competition, decreasing margins, deals are much harder to find, and the water is very muddy with new investors.

While he predicts lower interest rates, he does not believe there will be a decrease in prices.

You wouldn't want to buy into an area that is declining rapidly where the tenant quality is decreasing along with the area. 

With SFR'S at only 50% (or slightly higher) than the cost to build and with the current things going on in the market, values of SFR'S will be going up at a clip higher than the upside of apartment units which can only increase by capital improvements, rent increases (which are likely going down not up), and decreased operating costs which increase cap rates but only

In addition, even w/ fairly honest people, paying them upfront decreases their motivation (incentive) to get work done in a timely manner.Details on my current project:I paid hourly for a feasibility study.

Best case they knock a few years off of the SS deficit, without changing the underlying issues that have caused it to run a deficit in the first place, and decreases the government's current tax revenue (because people now can only use traditional accounts). 

s property owners will have a 11% decrease in taxes which is significant now, Stockton University is constructing buildings on the beach block (The E.C. that I work for is working on the Parking Garage of that project), Tropicana Casino is expanding, and Hard Rock Casino has acquired Taj Mahal for a full renovation and transformation to a Hard Rock Casino.

Downfalls, it is small town that has had history of getting hit hard in recessions with high unemployment and decreased property values.

You can rent the house on a 12 month rental, short term rental, fix & flip the house and pay back your HELOC and you don't need to move into the house if that was not your plan.Pay down the HELOC balance over a period of time, similar to how you paid off your house in the first place which decreases the monthly payment so you cash flow better. 

I plan to self-manage for the experience, but as the number of units increase and/or my available free time decreases, I will eventually turn the units over to a property manager and plan to account for that while analyzing deals.