Also, If you pay off your mortgage early and truly own your house the ability to leverage decreases and you forfeit the ability to invest that money in other vehicles that would ideally bring in better returns than the money saved through paying down your home.

Carla is clearly not afraid of Foreclosures, and sees the opportunity to earn extra $$$$ & higher returns - especially on a well-chosen property in a strong local real-estate market.David is somewhat more risk-averse / conservative and just wants principal & [most] interest back as soon as possible , and is willing to forego some upside to decrease the probability, however low, of any kind of negative eventual outcome...   

Good news is that vacancy rates are usually pretty stable with recessions being good for investors as vacancy rates decrease.

The article is still relevant in the sense that the vacancy rate still remains at roughly the same elevated level (9%+) and if the post & local colleges were enough to absorb the inventory created by the Army & Air Force realignments, then the vacancy rate would expect to decrease - and that has not really transpired.

I know the population has been decreasing for a while, but what's going in Wilkes-Barre that's leading to such high cap rates (i.e. sellers willing to sell their properties for really low amounts?)

Our agent should be contacting his list of guests that walked and other interested clients to obtain feedback from their walk as well as update them that the price has decreased.  

I will model decreasing or stagnant rents, decreasing occupancy, and increasing cap rates.  

Its possible that you need to watch these properties for 6+ months though as the price will gradually decrease to a reasonable level.

This actually increases your risk, not decreases it.

Sure you'd have decreased cash flow for awhile but then you'd be reducing your liabilities and the total amount that you would have to pay back over time.