Rents are countercyclical meaning the often go up instead of down in hard economies.

Travis, that all depends on your level of involvement and whether you're interested in doing small MF with one or two investors, or whether you're interested in larger MF as a passive investor.When it comes to the ladder, I'd say there are less risks due to economies of scale and other things:1.

I personally live my life by the famous quote "its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission" so outside of the laws look at an areas economy, sports venues, college towns, etc.

I guess I am trying to determine if rates the past couple years are high because the economy is high or if this is the norm. 

If you can get it done now that’s optimal because the rates are likely to start bumping up within the next few years due to economy’s performance and the current administration.

Risk in TeamBy sticking to one market that we know very well and have a proven mgmt. team in place with economies of scale that allows us to mitigate risk factors 2 and 3 (not eliminate, but mitigate).

They may still be doing them as portfolio loans, just not the low down payment option for the time being until the economy settles since they probably don't yet know the fallout they may have with people unable to pay.

From Texas Real Estate Center (RECON) October 27, 2017 Employment growth outside of Houston offsets Harvey negatives COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The Texas economy continues to create more jobs as the impacts of Hurricane Harvey on the Houston’s employment growth rate are offset by higher employment growth rates in other larger metro areas.According to the Real Estate Center's latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy, Texas gained 256,100 nonagricultural jobs from September 2016 to September 2017, an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent, higher than the nation’s employment growth rate of 1.2 percent.

Analyzing a vacation home is a bit different than analyzing a duplex because vacation rentals have down seasons which can be  profitable if you turn your rental into a corporate rental during that time but you also need to be aware of the economy of your area because sometimes corporate housing won't work during the down season.

I'll agree, MFR has the economy of scale which SFR doesn't but, I feel like SFR is more safe and liquid with a bigger pool of buyers but, this could also be my limiting belief.