Like I stated above, I know many of my fellow Texans that I have connected with speculate that people are looking for cities with tax incentives and job stability.

Just imagine if your tenant moves out, you have to repaint the place for $600 and you can’t get another tenant for 2 months, that’s a lot of money out that will never be recouped.Now I say 99% because if you are buying in a market on speculation, meaning for some reason you think rents or sale values are going to go up in the future, this investment might be worth it.

I doubt you will see it appreciate at a rate much faster than that amount, and if it does, the speculation is probably not worth the risk.

underwritten realistically, or speculatively?

Short sales are speculative.

That is a speculative bet, the same as buying a stock.

I have a couple thoughts on this, all speculative of course. 1) The investors that normally had a standard of 20-25% ROI are now settling for 12-15% ROI just to get their money back in the market, which is crucial for full time investors.2) Contractors may have in fact dropped their prices just to be able to get back to work.

I work in the energy industry for my day job and there is speculation on where the next "hot spot" will be for that industry.  

The difference in interest rates is negligible.Holding an "investment" that doesn't cash flow is almost always a mistake for a few reasons:"Appreciation is speculation."

Although there seems to be some of this starting already, it might be about 6 months before it begins to take place in larger volume (just speculating).