I bought 2 condos 2-3 years ago when things were really depressed in San Diego.  

I am brand new to the industry and have decided that I want to be happy rather than depressed.

Commercial areas (Germantown Ave/Greene St.) seem depressed at the moment, but it's easy to imagine more bustling streets with nicer retail, restaurants and bars. 

If you spent a couple hours walking around there, you'd see that while there are some signs of revitalization, Vine City is an economically depressed neighborhood with many blighted properties like this one.  

As you can imagine, this depressed the whole rental market.

A few of my rentals in the Midwest are in areas that are considered depressed or less than desirable to some but our strategy is to provide clean, safe, and attractive homes to tenants that are generally grateful for an opportunity to stay in areas close to family, work and school.

If we are really going to go to a complete collapse, not just a recession or depression, it does not matter if you paid cash for a property or not.

i normally build homes, however this area is still somewhat depressed and have not built any new homes in a while.  

Really depressed market here for the past few years - basically, the amount of time I've been investing.Aaron

The left over would be used to buy an under-performing depressed looking commercial building with a max mortgage.