There is always an economic crisis on the horizon. 

Hotel - Columbus, OhioPurchase price: $7,000,000Renovation: $5,300,000Expected Sales price at exit: $14M (worst case) to $17MCashflow: $400K to $500K/yrInvestment Horizon: 3-5 years2. 346 Apartment Units - 5 separate properties in Cincinnati, OhioPurchase price: $20,000,000Renovation: $4,000,000Expected Sales price at exit: $32M (worst case) to $45MCashflow: $1.2M - $1.6M/yrInvestment Horizon: 2-4 years3. 42-unit apartment - Bond Hill area Cincinati, OhioPurchase price: $1,500,000Renovation: $276,500Expected Sales price at exit: $2.6MCashflow: $80K-$100K/yrInvestment Horizon: 2-4 yearsDeals Sold (Closed)1.

Vacation rentals can be amazing investments, but they are also small businesses, so be prepared for that.Lack of a mortgage is great for a single property, but think about your time horizon and if/how you want to scale.  

Assessment of where you're buying and its 'frothiness factor'2 - Your need for cash flow vs longer term appreciation/equity building, mainly will depend on your time horizon with owning the asset3 - Your skills/ capabilities - some people are more naturally geared towards handling lower class areas, tenants, and usually the items that come up maintenance wise with this.The advice I usually give to 'youngins' (I'm 36 by the way) is to take the long view - which means the equity building, and your TIME to continue focusing on your career, building skills, etc - would lead me to be biased towards the property that you felt would hold / appreciate in value more over time.....

I heard on NPR yesterday that a buyer's market is on the horizon.

Based on my goals of long term passive income, I believe real estate investing is a get rich slow scheme so I try to approach RE investing with a longer time horizon - something like 10 years.

@Ty Mason I'm going to assume you're looking at a pretty short time horizon? 

Time horizon?

The advise on not being overly leveraged is a sensible one although l view the underlining message as being around risk mitigation and understanding the time horizon you have to recover.

Real estate is ultimately local, so if there are opportunities where the numbers pencil out and you have a longer term horizon I would not hesitate too much.