A few months after the economy starts to suffer, we'll start to see the real effects on the real estate industry. 

Growing up poor the richest person I knew was an engineer at a local chemical plant making $50,000 a year.

I would hate to see your high-earning W2 suffer due to real estate whether that's time or mental distraction.I would focus on staying in the game with the high income W2 as long as possible, keep those expenses low, throw your added money into index funds, and see about doing real estate when you start pulling back from the W2.

In the case of Austin, I don't see it suffering any downturn that won't be affecting the whole of America anyways (lots of tech growth and the university is expanding), so the risk would be low.Chris has a valid point that this is an "accidental landlord" situation.

If the terms of your loan aren't ideal, your return suffers.

If you follow Philosophy, I think it was the Buddah that said, the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, the second best time is now.

I wasn't once threatened with prosecution for being too close to a plant! 

Evicting a responsible family who pays rent on time and who maintains your property in good condition, thus suffering a vacancy loss and risking that the next [unproven] tenant will damage and neglect your asset?  

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others.

All asset classes are suffering (or enjoying) high valuations largely as a result of cheap credit.