Therefore, my purchasing power grows each and every year that I own them, which is much more than I can say for properties in other parts of the country where prices and rents don't keep up with inflation and that great cash faux they always brag about is really just purchase price getting trickled back in small monthly installments that shrink every year until they are completely consumed by CapEx, which always keeps up with inflation.

Rental property is generally considered to be an inflation hedge, but if we get hyper-inflation and a major devaluing of the dollar, with extremely high unemployment and a govt that can't stimulate anything or support massive public housing/Sec8 spending due to a huge portion of quickly-shrinking tax revenue being spent on servicing the massive federal debt... then frankly I don't know how property will perform.

I'm a 24 year old Asian male so... obviously my applicant pool shrinks, but the home is in an A class neighborhood with top tier public schools.

I do this on a daily basis.The crazy prices may stay close to where they are for luxury and high-end homes but will shrink everywhere else, and more so with land.

I would love to be able to refinance my own loan at something like 2 or 3% and gain that interest myself while shrinking my monthly payment.

@Kristin Brancaleone,It's important to remember that money which is not earning more money is shrinking at three times the rate of inflation.Yeah, to consumers, "debt free" sounds wonderful.

not to mention shrinking Yields and increasing GRM.Once these turn the market usual turns with it.

By putting less down, you're shrinking your denominator, which in turn increases your returns.

The question is not whether the city is down right now but what direction is it headed.Is population growing or shrinking?

If they start shrinking their portfolio in May, as they said they would do, and start selling MBS then we will get another surge in mortgage rates.