@Mike Dymski, in my experience raising institutional capital early in my career, I would disagree about "following a sponsor" for years, and actually many of the deal level analytics (a majority of institutional investors invest in funds not deals), but your point is generally correct.Ultimately, what I see a lot on these forums is that a lot of people are relying on the investment manager to also educate them on macro economic conditions, which will always carry a natural bias towards their types of offerings.  

That’s about 1 in every 758 homes.July alone saw a 13% increase compared to last year, the highest monthly jump so far in 2025.What makes this more interesting—or worrisome—is the uneven geography:Alaska (↑55%), Rhode Island (↑51%), Utah and Wyoming (both ↑46%), and Colorado (↑41%) are seeing the sharpest increases.Per housing units, states like Nevada, Florida, Maryland, South Carolina, and Illinois are riding the foreclosure wave fastest.Contrast that with the macro picture:Inventory levels are swelling—active home listings are up almost 25% year-over-year—providing more opportunities for buyers.Mortgage rates dropped slightly, with 30-year fixed rates nudging down to 6.58%—the lowest point of 2025, but still elevated.And in a twist, the Federal Reserve is stuck between supporting housing and fending off inflation fueled by booming AI investments.So here’s my investor brain asking some real questions:Are these rises signaling local economic strain—not a national crisis—creating focused opportunities?

Columbus still has inventory in the $120K–$180K range where you can find deals that cash flow from day one and appraise well after a value-add, especially if you’re buying right and managing your rehab budget.The macro trends here are super strong too—tons of population growth, job creation, and massive developments like the $26B Intel chip plant, plus major companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Honda, Facebook, and others growing their footprint.

There are two AC units on the home, one very old and working, but noisy and one that is old, but smaller and in better shape per my inspector.

That dwarfs other macro trends that would have huge implications on their own.

You make some great points about the macro environment and its impact on real estate.

Variable interest at prime + 1.5-2% scares me given the macro economic roller coaster we're on.  

Maybe someone teleworks but can't do so at home for whatever reason (i.e. noisy kids, space too small). 

Quote from @Carlos Ptriawan: also since most of the advice in BP is coming from sell side, the return we got is the normal return hence why I am no longer interested.I am interested to gain abnormal return.my exerience- making 80k-100k per flip from 500k home is possible, only in CA- Out of state could be a good appreciation vehicle too- the wealth builder is created when we invest in expensive state only (CA/HI) with at least two properties- invest locally is thousand time better than investing outside because of the potential it creates- househacking and ADU is finance freedom LOLBut i develop a strong very atypical thesis also:- there' nothing passive about real estate investment- investing in syndication is more active than direct ownership- the risk of the unknown of unknown is the biggest issue in any real estate- at the end of the day, the probability of we as landlord is hitting problem with tenant/city is like 100% so be prepared- the difference between different type of real estate investment is the unknown factor and that's always the least discussed- strategy is always different depending on macro climate, if mney is cheap leveraging equity is the best, if money is expensive then buying debt is good option- don't chase best return but chase the most understood risk and capital preservation as a goal- not all RE investment has equal return/risk , syndication in multifamily for example is outsourcing all risk to investor while gp makes the most money lol- direct investment is always always better than indirect investment, except in certain asset class and extremely good sponsor that could find a noticeable return/risk reward.- donot follow the crowd, when everybody else is buying then it's good time to sell, vice versa LOL- if the math doesn't pencil, GTFO lol I do not agree with everything in this post but agree with a lot of it so I thought I would add my view.

A lot of out-of-state investors are having success here because the numbers still work and the macro story is strong.