As for alex, we've been hearing the same thing since the original crash in 2014 of oil prices and in that timeframe houston has been rising steadily.

However, I also lived through the banking crash of 2008, while living in Charlotte.  

However, a crash concerns me.

Few years later was the economic crash and the condo's value dropped in half.

., but 30 years is a long time...however you have to be prepared for the possibility that the rents could go down and not cover the mortgage (not too likely in my opinion) or the vacancy factor could go up and you again may not be able to cover the mortgage.Lastly if we have another crash in values and it goes down under what you owe then your $35k equity could disappear.These scenarios could cause you to  end up giving it back to the bank and ruin you credit thru no fault of your own.

If you can't ride out a crash in the next 5-10 years, be more cautious in your purchase- especially in the LA market where the 0's are plentiful :-) AKA easy $1M dollar properties. best of luck!

This provided the cash to finance the next few properties after the market crashed.    

The property sold for over $150,000 in 2007, so not a war zone...now granted that was then, before the crash, but the if the market is projected to recover at some slow but predictable rate, then appreciation could happen, but won't if the intrinsic value of the homes has decreased because now they are vacant and boarded up.

Not sure the realities or risks but I know it happens  Oh, I'm sure it does happen, wait until someone crashes or someone dies because they couldn't get mom to a hospital, see how negligent homicide or reckless endangerment stacks up to an unlawful repo or bill collection tactic. 

I am a newbie, and want to get into real estate soon.It seems that the market will crash in 2016, so I figure that late 2016 or early-mid 2017 would be a great time to invest what with prices dropping.With this in mind, where do you guys think a good location would be?