According to this article from Vice News it's the worst place in America to be a tenant.  

To me that seems like the worst time for an investor to buy, as it sets them up for overpaying should the next recession be sooner rather than later.  

It was poorly written and was a convenient talking point about all the evil investors buying up property and turning the city into slums.The reality is that the worst effected areas, as the study you just citied is going to show, are concentrated and have been in decline for decades.  

Even if it doesn't go through, I feel like I've faced every "worst case scenario" out there, so I know that even if this doesn't work out something will come along.In the meantime, my fiance and I have started working on building a real estate portfolio.  

In the worst case, if I can't terminate the lease immediately, can I refuse them keys and/or terminate the lease on the spot if I don't get the full payment on or before the move-in date?  

What companies do you think are the best and worst new home builders in the DC area.  

The worst they say is pound sand, and you no better or worse off than you are today.

In Virginia, things are pretty speedy and we think that worst case scenario, we would have to re-file and it would cost us about a month of rent. 

Yeah, I figure what the heck, it's only $21k, and I get experience with seller financing, and if worse comes to worst and the market crashes before I can sell for $100k+, I still have a cashflowing property.  

That's not the worst thing because you're essentially getting a loan from the US Treasury.