And we saw the value of our investment plummet.

I have mixed feelings about RealtyTrac - http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-26/realtytrac-institutional-investor-housing-purchases-plummet-nationwide

At that point our tolerance for risk plummeted.  

the equity that you have paid down will only have an effect if the bank decides to come after you for the shortfall. say you purchase a house for 100k and you put down 75k...that leaves a mortgage of 25k.due to economic conditions, the house plummets and you foreclose, it goes to auction for 10k. the lender can come after you for the other 15k owed.i personally dont understand why someone who put out 75% would walk away though. my above example is qute extreme.as far as the reverse mortgages go....there are limitations on age, value, payment history, etc.i've also been reading (per many analysts) that reverse mortgages are going to be the new subprime/arm loans and that they are to be further scrutinized thus making them more difficult.

If this signals a major downturn in the price for raw land, home prices here could plummet.

I’m fine with that given that it will always be a strong market and they won’t plummet badly like cities we clearly saw during the financial crisis in 2008-2009.

If the FHA approval lapsed....priced can plummet very quickly.

It helps keep the prices from plummeting more.

The Coaching sessions had him take over $100k out on Credit Cards to purchase a property in Las Vegas, pre-Financial Crisis.He wound up buying a SFH and rented it out, but after the crash, Vegas property values plummeted  by about 70% of it's pre-Crisis Peak.

A huge recession caused prices to plummet but it also caused rents to remain somewhat flat - at least during the first few years - as huge numbers of people lost their jobs and couldn't afford to pay rent.