Plus the PossIble crash.

(We both graduated from college at the beginning of the crash so we know how tough things can get in a downturn.) 

However, this was right before the market crashed in 2008 and my dad, unfortunately, lost his property.

Not ideal but we desperately needed the crash course! 

I've screened probably 200 people for my Jvillle rentals (2/2.5) and not once have I seen an unmarried Marine looking for a crash pad.

Jay Hinrichs It’s funny because those who bought a 4 plex in Phoenix after the crash now have experienced the rebound.I was late to the game and bought mine in 2014, but I could have bought dozens of them off the MLS for around $150-175k and they are now worth $300-350k.

I am most comfortable with SFR but am intrigued by a duplex to quad unit, but at the same time they worry me if I ever had to get out quickly and quality of tenant potential.So my thoughts on my options are:--Take out both HELOC's and 401k loans and sit on that cash in a money market or similar vehicle along with what I have already to wait for the crash (whenever it arrives), using my personal and rental cash flow and redirecting the extra I'm paying on those existing mortgages to pay off the HELOC and loans quickly--Use my HELOC and stockpiled cash today to go into another, cheaper market somewhere else in the US, and buy up 3-8 more properties, either leveraged or outright. 

Phoenix is a pretty volatile market- not as volatile as L.A. where you're living, but it crashed hard in 08 and swung back up pretty hard in the past 6 years.

Is it too high and likely to crash in the next year or so?

I made hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto and then lost almost all of it when the crypto market crashed.