But we try and mix 'being human and compassionate' with 'not getting screwed' when dealing with tenants that are experiencing one off 'adverse life situations'.  

You are also effectively responsible for everything you say, do, and write as relates to RE, and, anything outside of RE CAN adversely affect your license status.

.$12,000 for singles.This seemingly benign change can adversely affect vacation-home owners, because their allowable itemized deductions (including those for vacation home mortgage interest and property taxes) may not exceed their standard deduction amount for 2018-2025.And in Hawaii… Short term vacation rentals come with an additional tax burden of 10.25% in Hawaii, the Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT).

I've thought about paying down the place, but even in an severely adverse situation where rents drop by 30-40% I'd still be on top of PITI and expenses.

You are now facing adversity which everyone does and this is what makes or breaks people in the beginning.

Probably not, but they WILL adversely affect the quality of the Tenant.

@Rick Albert Respectfully, none of that has adversely affected my screening process.

Either they are too slow, over budget, cut corners, dishonest, cant handle adversity or several other things.

The lender will eat your capital call for breakfast.This is a bit like closing the barn door after the horses are gone, but the best defense here is to only invest in offerings that are raising a significant enough cash reserve, are well underwritten with conservative debt terms (low LTV and/or low default ratio), and skippered by an experienced and well capitalized sponsor that has survived adverse market cycles before.There have been comments in this thread about lenders requiring borrowers to put up substantial capital reserves (which is true, for now), and a suggestion that this provides additional safety. 

Be careful when first entering the market if you're new to it as there are many properties that look great on paper but have one or more adverse characteristics that may prevent you from realizing the gains you project.