Emergency repairs from years of carelessness can wipe out all that cash-flow....

., those opportunities will emerge regardless of market conditions. 

I have enough emergency fund and income to cash flow most repairs.

There is no bank qualifying I need to do or worry about 25% down or debt ratios or any of that stuff.I keep $5k per house in reserves so that I can always make the underlying payment and cover emergencies.

It seems like the utility company should have an emergency number to call. 

If there is an emergency that requires access to the basement, a lock combination will be provided for urgent access.

I'm from Portugal, and I'd recommend investing in emerging suburban areas of Lisbon and Porto. 

I just leave them in my lock box unless there is an emergency and i need one. 

However, in your experience, how much of that truly influences opportunity within an emerging market?

(My usual spiel for this is "It's totally fine, I've been there too, I just need to make sure I have him on the paperwork in case there's an emergency, to protect all of us.")