Also, the topic of bed bugs really depresses me b/c it is such an expensive nuisance.

I just recently bought Donna Bower's course for 90.00 on craigslist :) (999.00 on her website) The person hadn’t even opened most of it and just said “the real estate market is so depressed nobody could make it†I didn’t wind up pursuing the methods taught in her course but it did give me a good understanding of notes.

Oh, that's right, except the other mishaps with no warning:Panic of early 1900'sGreat Depression (few decades later)Oil speculation in 70'sSavings and Loan '80'sTech company failures 90's[pulled from larouchepub.com]"the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 1,677 points (18%) in 11 trading days, falling below the level it hit in the aftermath of Sept. 11"ANDa complete surprise and "panic" which no rational human being saw coming....

We are not entering another Great Depression.

Maybe it's the severely depressed areas like Florida, Vegas, or Phoenix that have long term appreciation plays.You can also look at becoming a hard money lender.

We have motorcycled through Mid Ohio to go to the races there and I am a little familiar with the depressed areas up there.

I recently ran into an issue in Pennsylvania in which the housing authority depressed my market rent ask because they are underfunded.  

As one of the cheapest, most depressing career people I know, here are a few things I do.1) Live in a cheap place -- all your friends will mock you.

This is so depressing, but fits in with my theory...

So, for now I am currently trying to gain a greater understanding of the values in the neighborhood since there are not many comps available as it has historically been a depressed area.