If there is a downturn of any kind in the economy and people start losing jobs I think there will be an extreme flood of foreclosures in new homes. 

Also, both a 401k and a primary residence both assume the economy will not be in a contraction when you go to retire - an assumption that has burned countless many people.I would focus on creating passive income before worrying about a primary residence.

I strongly believe that carefully vetted commercial MF syndication is a good investment vehicle due to many many reasons (professionally managed, more passive, economy of scale due to large units, spread of risk due to multiple partners, and all the goods of Commercial MF like forced appreciation through value add, not only to mention all the tax benefits)...

Opportunities for economies of scale do not exist (unless you have a large portfolio of homes in a close proximity).

We intend to rent for a year ourselves and see how the economy looks in another 10 months before deciding to purchase again.

Think of economy of scale.

In the case of bank owned, I don't see banks discounting properties to get them off their books in this market, in today's economy. 

It is a major player in the local economy.

The third party leasing companies are able to leverage economies of scale/ bulk buying power on equipment / vertical integration to drive costs down such that they can install solar cheaply enough that they will be making money on the system very quickly if not immediately (by selling the tax credits to banks/investors/tax equity funds and by selling energy back to the grid at a premium) .

https://insiderlouisville.com/economy/access-ventures-explores-opportunity-zones-fund-to-expand-investments-beyond-shelby-park/