Note that we are increasing close to pre-recession highs, Apr'08, of $315,000.

“As we predicted last month, California’s statewide median home price broke the previous pre-recession peak set in May 2007 and hit another high as tight supply conditions continued to pour fuel on the price appreciation fire,” said C.A.R.

Why will leveraged investors implode if/when there's a recession? 

Investors that allocate into places with good market indicators will fare much better in the looming recession and will avoid making an extremely costly mistake.By looking at the data you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.Let me know if you have any other questions, hope this helps!

Open space is cheap and plentiful - the recession took care of that. 

One thing I will say to be cautious of in your case, though, is that your primary income is tied to the RE industry, so if you have a housing recession you would get a double whammy in that your income could go down at the same time your property value goes down ... not something that can't be overcome with proper planning, just something to be aware of, plan for, and be extra cautious of in your case.

It's as if the big national banks convinced congress they they had no part in the Great Recession!

They both get a tremendous amount of blame for that (though Obama gets all the current blame), and I have a feeling the next President or two will continue to sweep the real economic issues under the rug -- nobody seems to want to make the hard decisions that involve purposefully keeping us in a recession for a long time in order to fix the underlying economic issues.Gotta run...have to get my nanny to turn off Fox News...don't want to be an accessory to funding terrorism!

No philosophy, just a fact.Some argue the recent recession was caused by excessive debt of all types at all levels.

Tax-free gains, compounded over the long-term, are HUGE.I'll take that over whatever (potentially taxable) returns I could enjoy on $5,500 per year in the short-term.But to that point, if $5,500 a year is going to make or break an investor's ability to execute their investment plan in the short term, then they should probably be looking for ways to maximize their income rather than figuring out how to maximize their return on $5,500 a year in the short-term.And you can self-direct a Roth mind you.Mine has been invested in stocks (during the Recession), then notes earning 12%, and now a beachfront project in Orange County, California.The ability to snowball TAX-FREE WEALTH in such a vehicle is a significant financial boon.