Bubble?

[Jason Merchey]

Does anyone sense risk in the housing market? I was thinking lately about taking out a loan or two for rental properties, but I have some concerns about the federal government/politicians/partisanship, a tech bubble in the stock market, shadow inventory held by the banks, economic problems on the part of the country that could affect the housing market, the drastic increase planed for the flood insurance industry (and I'm coastal) and the fact that the banks haven't really been brought to heel since 2008. There are probably a couple other risk factors I haven't thought of. I was thinking about non-real estate investing, such as holding cash, buying gold, municipal bonds, foreign stocks, or perhaps a mutual fund that deals in alternative energy or something along those lines. My question is, what do you think about the safety of taking out loans on a couple houses that would probably be purchased at or just slightly below market value, 25% down, 30 year amortization, etc. Is the time to buy like two years ago, or is getting deeply invested in the real estate market a wise move?