With the state of politics recenty, it's nice to go back and look at leaders of substance and extraordinary intelligence.

Huntsville is in the top 5 of most intelligent cities, NASA & all the private engineers.Mobile had the BP oil spill that everyone thought would wreck the market but all of the clean up crews, FEMA, etc., were here pumping money in the local economy while the beach tourism was non existent during the spill & clean up. 

Governments artificially support economy to prevent a actual "depression".

Many in the medical field though are frustrated with pay systems and healthcare reimbursements.. its not all wine and roses :)  but the folks I know in medicine like you say do quite well and are intelligent enough to invest wisely. 

It always depends on the bank but it still gives a starting point for people to give a more intelligent response.

Don't move on to the second question/assumption until you have validated the first.Here's an example of a good starting point:Assumption 1: I think I am ready to invest in a real estate deal (regardless of deal size)Idea to validate: find 5 other real estate professionals (brokers/investors) - ideally, some who are honest and intelligent, tell them what you have done to prepare, and ask them if they think it is a good idea.

Another constant issue that creates more demand is low inventory, artificially and temporarily raising prices too.  

Where the organic housing inventory went artificially higher due to non locals buying rentals in markets where the need for more rental inventory was not organically needed.

I let my buyer and seller do the negotiating which at that time i could not intelligently have done convincingly.

It’s a small dent compared to the effect of prolonged artificially low interest rates, and the hollowing out of American middle class jobs.