@Pope Lake I'm still very much a newbie, but am currently in Alabama. For what it's worth, when I purchased my properties they showed very mild changes based on market swings for as far back as I could dig. Especially when compared to Vegas, where my primary residence has seen a 60+% increase in the five years I've had it (granted we got hit hard in the bubble and took a long time to recover, so I got lucky with timing).
I'm aiming for buy and hold too, so I try to get terms steady (30 year fixed), and as long as the income numbers cover the expenses (with some extra margin of safety of course), I don't see a problem. At the end of the day, if I can make a 10% return and get in now, that's a lot safer of a bet than a potential 15% return with waiting for the next year. Even if everything bursts and the prices drop by 50% tomorrow, I'm still making positive cash flow, so don't really care.
