On the other hand, if you were flipping based on appreciation (like was done by so many California investors during the boom), that would certainly be speculating.

Numbers work very well w/leverage, NE SA along the I-35 corridor towards Austin as you know if booming and has legs, super strong rental market.  

Rather, I've been more of an interested party and less of an investor or anything.While I'm no pro, I can say that living here and watching the last couple booms and busts, I would suspect the fed rate hike will do little to change the current market.  

So Boom you are now a licensed agent in NYS.

@Amber Saulsbury It is not only about cap rate but appreciation too.In my area it is 4-5, but appreciation grows like crazy, which means.When you buy a multi 30 units for 5 million for example, that is C, renovate it, increase rent, add value and resell it after 2 years, you can resell it for 7-8 million, so BOOM you made another 2-3 million just for reselling.When it comes to apartment buildings, yes it is nice to have a steady cashflow for 100k-200k a year, however, what would you rather?

I agree that the crazy boom in CS down off of William D Fitch and other areas is something to consider for being overbuilt. those homes aren't geared towards student rentals and I just don't see current economic drivers allowing for non-students to absorb the inventory.

were literally too afraid to approach the Wynwood area before to it becoming a booming and blossoming art hub full of fresh tourists.

You know the answer from Fannie, so if you are told anything more restrictive than that, then boom you've just discovered the presence of REI-unfriendly overlays that will artificially limit your capacity to obtain financing when using that lender - basically, these overlays generally have the net effect of limiting you to one property per two or three years unless you are incredibly high income from your day-job. 

Still affordable and not a booming economy.

The report also now looks like an appraisal because the BPO mills have added so much stuff and requirements to beat out other mills for orders.Unless you live in an urban core area it is not that profitable.The reason is if you are suburban to rural there are not many comps and they are spread out. 1 order takes a bunch of time and has a bunch of adjustments and QC issues to make it work.The fee they pay is the same regardless of the difficulty.Local banks tell me the get hundreds of calls a week from agent wanting to list REO's for them.If the bank pays 2 and you have to split with your broker and cover computer platform fees,asset company training fees,yearly membership fees,etc. then you are almost working for free selling REO's.It is NOT a gravy train like people think.Yes REO brokers who had just a few listings int he boom times when things went bad they made huge bank for 1 to 2 years.Then now everything is saturated and not enough to go around.You can pick up 1 or 2 listings but you won't get rich off of it.