We like vacations as much as anyone, but our most important travel goals and the reason we're in this involve frequent trips to Greece and Russia to see our families back there.

Reminds me of Greece.

At worst there is a black swan event due to the hyper-connectivity and systemic risk that is present in our financial industry due to the consolidation of the too big to fail banks which could lead to a Cypress-Greece style credit freeze and liquidity crisis.I hope I am wrong but I am hedging my portfolio in the chance I am right.

See Zimbabwe, Weimar Republic, Iceland, Greece, Rome

Bigger concern, if you intend to finance it, would be to ensure its legality as a lender won't take the income for the second unit into account if you're planning on getting a loan.I would speak with neighbours who've been in the area for years, as well as find old zoning regulations. 

Let's just see what happens in Greece and after that...For a new investor who is investing to make a little money on the side will probably find the "theory" on gold/silver/... a lot easier to learn and understand than all the different parts of a real estate deal.

The outside still looks like its neighbours (that will come later).

Where other countries might just raise taxes, it seems collecting the taxes owed is more of a problem for Greece.

This year we tried something new and advertised one of our student properties inclusive of a weekly visit from our maid/cleaning service - we had 10 applications in the first day.b) We have a property in a working class neighbour hood.

China, Greece, Bitcoin, Saudi Arabia!