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.

So it is like speculating right now what policies Trump is going to enact in his second term. 

At least with companies that are for real.. and individuals that lend have no ability to report you as they are not signed up with the reporting agencies you just don't send in a note saying you are owed money as a lender.. you have to get approved to be in their system.. so all the speculation above is by those that have never actually owned a HML company and or are talking about tenants totally different.

We told him the only way we will do anything is - at the minimum there should be no loss of invested capital - so no speculation.

Most of the letters you send never get opened, I would speculate that around 5-10 % are read.  

I know nobody is giving advice here so I guess I'm just asking everyone to speculate for me.

This all sounds highly speculative to me.

Im also seeing rental prices/month are also going down.Would appreciate advice from experts on is this a good time for Houston investment or is it highly speculative right now.

Otherwise, you're just speculating on an unpredictable future.

Speculation /appreciation is nice but never paid my bills .when the economy is down its easier to keep a modest house renting for 700-1000 then needing to get 3,000+ in rent to keep above water .