Some of them that bought cheap for speculation just board-up their properties and leave that way.  

Like I said though, it's pretty speculative 

But, even so, the guys that had deals that weren't speculative, were in good locations (like any RE investment should be) and weren't over leveraged survived and thrived.

--------------Federal report says home-flipping drove the housing bubbleBy Cristina SilvaThe Associated PressPublished: Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 05:01AMLAS VEGAS — A new federal report indicates that speculative real estate investors played a larger role than originally thought in driving the housing bubble that led to record foreclosures and sent economies plummeting in Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and other states.Researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that investors who used low-down-payment, subprime credit to purchase multiple residential properties helped inflate home prices and are largely to blame for the recession.

I would consider it "speculative" .  

Also you are basically speculating that the area will appreciate- this is never certain in our changing market especiallyif interest rates jump.Option 2 depends on the ratio of your mortgage vs projected rent roll of the non owner units.

That doesn't mean there aren't areas of opportunity though, I'd highly suggest looking up the Walkers Point area and areas around there, where you're between the 3rd ward, where had any of us speculated on some of the then mostly vacant 10 story warehouses in time for the condo boom of the late 90's and 2000's, we'd be well on our way to the Forbes 400!

If it happens, it should have a positive impact on prices, but that is just speculation.

Any speculative trading is just gambling and I wouldn't do this with my money, let alone my clients' money.

They see Real Estate as more risky, full of speculation and can only think back to 2008 as an example of why not to invest in real estate.