One reason I don't predict a major crash again well a few.. and why I think fence sitters may get a sore butt.is that so many of the NEW crop of landlords are better prepared than pre 08  they have more money into the deals they are far more educated.. the turn key business is far more mature and reliable than pre 08... so that helps those markets. financing has been locked in at historic lows 5 % and under long term money is ridiculously good.. also this crop of landlords had the best buying seasons ever coming out of 08 to 2011.. so asset values were reset to under replacement values and under by a long shot in some markets.. 

I predicted job and area menities were top fo the list, but maybe the sampling set Rice University didn't target the suburban area enough?

The other thing I gleaned from this is its highly regionalized.. areas of older stock HIGH % of rentals wholesaling was much more viable.. areas of stability and owner occ and no boarded up homes much tougher. 

I can not predict the future, but....that has no chance of happening.

I wouldn't borrow 100K at 5% to buy 100K of stock that I somehow knew was going to go up 5%. 

There is a ton of older housing stock in Somerville and last thing you want is to redo upgrades and renovations.

This is only if all the usual expenses have been accounted for (purchase, taxes utilities, holding, closing, etc.) and your re-hab budget (+15%), plus the market being in the right place or will be soon enough (which is tough to predict). 

For them, real estate is an investment like stocks and bonds.

This comes with it's pros and cons but I don't see that as a bad option. or...I was also thinking of staying with my parents another year or 2, stock piling cash from the house flipping I do with my parents business, and then save up enough to buy a 8+ unit building to rent out.

For this reason stocks, REITS, partnerships etc do not work for 1031.