Housing investors are having their worst year since 2023. That's three years ago. The bar was on the ground and they still tripped.
Mortgage rates dropped in February. Investors saw the dip. They did what they always do when numbers move. They convinced themselves it meant something. Then the war with Iran started and rates spiked to their highest level in over a year. Turns out geopolitical chaos affects borrowing costs. Someone should have warned them.
These are the same people who spent 2021 buying rental properties sight unseen based on a YouTube video titled "Passive Income While You Sleep." They outbid families for starter homes. They paid 40k over asking in Boise. They called themselves entrepreneurs. Now rates are up three percent and they're shocked that leverage works both ways.
The article says this is their worst market in at least three years. At least. That qualifier is doing more work than their rental income. It means they started tracking pain in 2023. Everything before that was too good to measure or too stupid to remember.
Mortgage rates are now above where they were for most of 2025. Investors are stuck holding properties they can't flip and can't rent for enough to cover the note. They're learning what the word illiquid means. They're discovering that real estate is only passive income if you ignore maintenance, vacancies, and basic math.
The war with Iran did not ask for their permission before f*cking up their cap rate projections. Neither did the bond market. Neither did reality. But sure, let's blame February for giving them hope.
Three years is the longest these people have ever had to wait for anything except maybe a contractor to show up. They wanted generational wealth. They got a second job as an unlicensed property manager arguing with a tenant about whether black mold counts as a repair emergency.
Photo by Artful Homes on Unsplash
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