it is part of one of the recession proof industries!!

As for buy and hold, get an area that will appreciate fastest in this market...You can retire early :DWith the lending market continuing to tighten, the increased housing inventory, and the recession, it is much more difficult and "risky" (very loose term) to flip in these market conditions.

The IMF now officially predicts an American recession in 2008; many at the Federal Reserve think output is contracting"Many of us in the real estate industry knew what was going to happen and we kept feeding the fire.

Not sure I'm convinced it will be quite this dire, but this recession turning into a depression seems possible.OTOH, inflation does seem to be kicking up.

What will the vacancy rate be next year when we're deep into a recession?

It is quite clear you are very dissatisfied with our country's President Elect, but speaking more optomistically, I believe our country will prevail from this recession and prosper once again.I have many complaits as well, but I have realized it is futile to waste time and breath expressing them at this point.

Just as coincidental as the post election announcement of "Hey, we've been in a recession for over a year by the way...."

History is repeating itself. 1976, we elected a Democratic President and the economy got worse.Carter was about "HOPE", Obama - "Change".Clinton had a republican congress handed to him in 1994 I believe which is when the small recession of the early 90's ended.

Massive job losses are starting (economic recession)3. 50-100% housing appreciation in some areas since 20004.

There was a great graph shown on a previous post with the comparisons of previous recessions.