At this point whether or not you get laid off is pure speculation. 

I'm speculating, but I'd imagine that they are going to want you to have a co-signer on the loan because you don't have 2 years of employment under your belt.

Havent spoken to any bank yet, so this is just speculations.

Its speculation.

Many of us were speculating that the average hold time on the more expensive properties will go up. 

This is all just speculation of course but I, as a Realtor and Investor, am not to worried.

I have recently been thinking about land speculation investment.

Counting on future appreciation is not investing, it is speculating.

(aka I need a weekend at the beach for my mental health)Unless your speculating, diverse investment in index funds (such as an S&P 500 tracker) is an easy relatively low risk thing for anybody to do - doesn't require much thought, can give you basic tax deductions, can get tax free growth etc.

Jacob Irving The market is tough in SoCal similar to San Jose as others have mentioned .Definitely a speculative /development /flipping market nowadays versus a buy and hold cash flow market .Those that are doing well with rentals bought years ago before the big run up in prices or they inherited properties from family and have them paid off so they can live off the cash flow .You’ll want to have enough money for reserves to pay for maintenance and repairs and not be stretched to thin.I’d focus on earning income and saving .