That purchase was driven more by economics than being an investor though.

That is the most economical and simplest route to go.  

People are not going to pay 1% in desirable and economically stable areas because for that 1% they can buy almost 2x the house vs renting.

That's why I like how my debt is fixed for 5 years, with an ability in the loan terms to allow me to pay down 15% of the debt yearly if I get worried about economic factors or certain realities.Swanny

The second approach is “emerging growth opportunities†where value investors uncover external economic or market activities that are expected to lead to growing opportunities in the long term.

Enrollments drop in a college town like mine, some of those teachers will be doing something else, it's hard enough justifying some of them now, but if students drop out due to lack of funding, you'll see an economics prof selling apples.

You want to invest in areas where there are indicators that the city infrastructure is being fortified to support more residents and economic activity (e.g., new schools, roads, highways, public transit, etc.).6.  

That only thing that changed is you went from "low" to "high" even though you may have paid down more of the debt and overall owe less money.Too, when economic times are good lenders are usually okay with 80% LTVs. 

So 2 months before their leases ended i told them i was going to be going up in the rent(in hopes they'd clue in and find somewhere to move) In turn they started withholding rent to which i initiated a notice to quit and in response they went to the board of health which resulted in a large itemized list of repairs that needed to be made.

Based on where we are at in the current economic cycle, I'm interested to hear what other buy and hold investors are doing or would recommend?