Then, the worst icestorm of 30 years comes through, and the pipes freeze.

Property was left vacant and suffered freeze/flood damage.

The biggest problem most newbies have is they try to learn everything the bootcamps, courses and gurus throw at them right out of the gate and then the majority freeze up because they have no idea where to start or what to do first and ultimately do nothing. 

It was a 2 family, bank owned foreclosure with boarded up windows, etc. so it looked like a disaster from the outside, but was actually not that bad inside (the property was winterized and had no electricity so it was *freezing* whenever we went to see it, and it snowed almost constantly in the ~week that it was on the market, which I think scared off a fair number of other buyers). 

Usually you have this installed inside the building just where the water comes in for freeze protection.

Also people fail to notice layoffs are not the problem, the hiring freezes are! 

Also, if it is vacant and something catastrophic happens like a pipe freezing, it will be noticed and communicated quickly. 

At a recent REI meetup, a fellow investor and ER doctor said his company is putting a freeze on travel nurses because of the cost.

I put together a list from properties in my area, mostly multifamily- at first i did it manually and it took like 3 hours to find property- find owner and add it all to podio (keeps freezing, although it seems like a great system its very slow), then I tried propstream and in 15 minutes I had another list ready to go.

I've already had a pinhole leak in the copper pipes under the slab but most of the pipes go up into the attic from there and I've had one pinhole leak in the attic, plus a pipe burst with a recent freeze (first time in over 30 years) where water was pouring down from the ceiling.