If your game plan is backed by economies that are diverse, connected to and ALSO disconnected from the general economy, you keep a close eye on leading economic indicators as well as coincident indicators, those telling the story thru all of the noise, you should be able to avoid such drastic results. 

BTW, being in San Diego (like the OP), I'll echo what other posters have mentioned -- there's is a huge disconnect between our rents and our property values that make investing in rental RE here questionable (San Francisco Bay area & LA have similar issues).

The old one that blew apart had already been disconnected so this guy just picket it up and took it to the store he bought it at.

He replaced a brand new thermostat that I installed with another one and wired up the thermostat in correctly and disconnect the electric heat and put it on the emergency heat to make the inspector happy. 

The first one, they climbed up a power pole and disconnected the power to the building, then up a tree and smashed through a 2nd floor window. 

Then I would get some quotes and start budgeting now ... depending on what the municipality charges for connection, the length of the new run and the digging/landscaping involved in disconnecting the old, you could be looking at 3 - 10K.In the interim, be nice to your neighbour and perhaps higher a roto-router service once - or twice - per year to hit the existing line and keep it clear.

Someone should write a white paper on this phenom... the people living in these areas and why they never change or will never do anything but this scenario you describe. its hard to have a sense of community when no one in the community owns any of the real estate and the real estate is all owned by for profit  hoity toity investors like your sell taking advantage of this situation  :)  I say this in Jest obviously but it is pretty wild when you think about these neighborhoods ... and the disconnect from the actual people that live there and the owners of the properties that in many cases are scattered all over the world.and with financing getting back to where it should have always been..

I am worried about the FCC law, but was told the other day by a realtor that realtors are calling/texting anyway, but to use my best judgement.....I pulled a list from propstream yesterday and had it skiptraced and no joke, about every single phone # on the list of 107 was on DNC.....The #'s that we not on DNC were either disconnected or wrong #....Please let me know any strategies that you have implemented, I'm ready to work!   

Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between Mortgage Underwriters and the actual distinction between the two. 

Once the plumbers came out they noticed all new plumbing in the bathroom and a bath tub drain/vent pipe that was disconnected.