Consider there are some fundamentals that are important to have in place before any one thing can have the impact it is capable of.  

You may not get the appreciation others will see but in the long run they feel like a solid, stable investment if the underlying fundamentals and economics are right. 

If you want to truly grow and scale a business, you need to learn business, management, accounting and marketing fundamentals.

BUT, the fundamentals have to be right first. for that you need reps, good reps.

The best part is, they can do this before you even enter due diligence it can help with negotiation, pre-PSA if you want toCrime reports - this has been thoroughly mentioned on this thread already, but you absolutely must read crime reports before you pull the trigger on purchasingI'm a believer in investing in C class neighborhoods, as long as you solve for the financials, management needs of the property and the submarket fundamentals support the investment for years to come.

it depends" - I think your lifestyle may dictate much of this decision, but fundamentally you probably win more with the renting and deploying the capital into investments that will earn you money in the meantime, you can always buy a home and you can always give some bank a big deposit for the home you plan to live in, but in the meantime if you have the ability to buy some rental or invest in a real estate venture, go for it, let your money work for you while you can.

Appreciation creates cash flow ... price increases and rent increases go hand in hand as they are driven by very similar supply and demand fundamentals, but most expenses (eg: fixed rate mortgage payments) do not scale as such.

You need to be dominate in your market and the fundamentals of good housing and the viability of real estate in your area.  

Even in computer science, there were debates amongst professors at my old university whether a computer science degree is feasible versus going to a boot-camp to learn fundamentals. 

@Carmelo Lopez I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out, It will be an awesome opportunity for those of us that use good fundamentals to grow our business.When the last bubble burst it was great for me because I was able to capitalize on all the gamblers who rolled the dice with excessive risk taking and got caught holding unmanageable debt packages.