It's because there is the potential for a huge amount of growth for a little bit of money, granted increased risk. 

Some people only use M2M because it gives them the ability to get rid of the tenant or change the terms of the lease with 30 days notice.

If so, I see it as an area that will improve in desirability, growth and value.  

I'm struggling finding up-to-date information on job and population growth.

Growth stocks are higher risk than value stocks.

In prior years, you would test your business to determine if you were actually running (a very unsuccessful) business or if you were simply dabbling in a hobby.This article is a pretty decent break down of how that test is done using the facts and circumstances present in your endeavorIf running an unsuccessful business, your losses might be deductible, buy depending on the nature of those experiences, they might just be Start Up Expenses, which are handled much differently (and also not entirely deductible)If you are just dabbling in a hobby, then prior to 2018, there were special rules about writing off those expenses, but in 2018 most of the ability to write off Hobby Expenses are now gone.

Ups and downs are inevitable, but how you deal with them will have a substantial impact on your ability to weather the first year.

You're the business that keeps accepting overqualified applicants for key positions and keeps losing them to headhunters because they have so many options other than working for your stingy self.So I guess my slumlord bonafides are now fully on disply with this post, but I'll continue treating my tenants like human resources to be fully exploited to the best of my abilities (just like a corporation), and you can keep on looking for exemplars of the finest past conduct to fill your vacancies (people whose next step is buying a house when they get sick of renting, with their good credit and excellent record), and we'll both do well in our market segments, you in your clean Canadian suburbs, me in my Rust Belt ghetto cesspits.Frankly, if I had a tenant applicant show up with the kind of clean record you're looking for where I own low-income rental properties in the 'Burgh, I'd immediately suspect identity theft.

However, I also don't know if having so much credit relative to my income will have an effect on my ability to get approved for a loan to purchase a property or a refinance option.

@Mark HughesThe vacancy rate is dependent on your ability to renew leases.