California real estate prices actually dropped between 1988 and 1997.Howard Hughes, the aviation pioneer of an earlier era, built his empire in Culver City (now part of Silicon Beach).

“If you want to take the island, burn the boats”Alexander the Great, who created an empire that stretched from his home in Macedonia to India, ostentatiously burned his ships when arriving in Persia in 334BC.

I fear working my tail off to build a mini rental empire here and then having the State change the rules on me when I'm so deeply entrenched into cap gains and deprecated properties.I don't know what the next national "downturn" will look like, but I've been feeling like it will have a bigger social impact than past downturns have due to a rise in populism, and animosity between the haves and have-nots as you put it.

I guess the point is build your empire on a solid foundation of education and application (whether it's in a formal setting or by absorbing the resources at your fingertips), use principles that have stood the test of time (earn, pay yourself first and be charitable) and fall forward every chance you get.

@David Friedman no doubt as time passes by more and more people from LA are moving to inland Empire so its up and coming however everything even here is very pricy and still impossible to get the 1% rule!

My plan is to eventually purchase the portfolio of 36 properties held by him and slowly build my own empire.

In my sector of low C-class urban SFR, I would be willing to bet we're going to experience long-overdue culling of the herd of uncommitted passive-investment-dreaming landlords who are completely unprepared to run their heavily leveraged empires relying on multiple third-party associates in a time of national crisis.

I have no empirical evidence or data to back up this idea, just gut instinct, but I think one of the first places you will see the supply homes spike is the popular cities for OOS, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Cleveland, ect, particularly C class homes, once the coastal owners have to shell out cash to pay the bills all while having seen their 401ks and RSU's get hammered.

Empirically, it appears those from southern west coast, the northeast, and urban folks hold a more reserved opinion regarding firearms.

When his overleveraged empire crashed, he fell back to a "job" he knew that didn't require capital.