Matthew,I'm a San Diego native so have endured many waves.

For a stock market analogy, I'm more of a dividend investor who likes slow constant returns as opposed to a growth investor who endures the peaks and valleys of overall return so your comment about not worrying about jumping into the "hot" market is fairly spot on. 

i've endured a couple of bad tenants since it bacame a rental in 2004--( like during the crash) but most have been a dream.So i see lots of opportunity for you-- you can buy HUD or Bank foreclosures as owner occupied.  

Then take the results and analyze how much stress you had to endure for each and the cash return.

I recently published a book explaining my thoughts on this, and our company's strategy: The Perfect Investment - Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing.

Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing.

To learn more about our philosophy and strategy, you can pick up my book on Amazon: The Perfect Investment - Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing.  

I hope this inspires someone and helps you to continue working through some of the rough spots you may be enduring currently, and keep you motivated to keep pushing and have some success in this business.

In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a fly epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president.

Is now a good time to sell, or thoughts on holding and turning it into a rental property for a few more years and enduring the upkeep costs?