If its retail, and you are determined to have something in that area, just go buy something now, and eliminate the risk of this developer failing.

Dying doesn't eliminate debts.

In my opinion that's the most important metric, return on invested capital.If you leverage your property to 100% with minimal or no cash flow you're pretty much banking on equity creation (debt reduction) or price appreciation.

Banks, and mainly European banks, have large exposure to emerging market debt of all types through both sovereign, corporate and individual loans.

Seems to me that during the Clinton years, the economy was booming and the National debt was non-existant.

Surely, a property needs sufficient cash flow to cover expenses, debt service, etc. in order to run smoothly.

Free and clear properties and no debt.

Right out of the gate a person should pay down their bad debt, improve their credit score and then save cash.

Food, water, cash reserve, gold, silver and no installment debt is the only safe solution for now

While paying all cash eliminates a mortgage and increases your cash flow, it also reduces your COC dramatically, and reduces the amount of property you can control.