Real estate is so localized, asking a broad question like this is hard to answer and no one has that crystal ball. 

I am always looking for the crystal ball play for my investors as the market is starting to shift and the need to buy and hold will become a more and more effective strategy and prefer to make my statements data driven not intuition. 

Nobody has a crystal ball, however, so the best thing to do is be conservative in your numbers and adhere to your criteria.

I would become crystal clear on what I wanted from this.

But no one has a crystal ball.

My crystal ball is cloudy, but to minimize the risks of a possible (maybe likely) negative price appreciation, look at a few things:1.

Someone will have a crystal ball they want to share?

This is not to say they couldn't make a huge mess of a city or two.If I look into my crystal ball, there will be more companies rushing into the market.  

Also make it crystal clear that sub-letting is not allowed in your rental.

As Jay pointed out the real money is in the equity gain that you can eventually crystalize.