With the recent cold weather I know there has been significant "emergency" work for burst pipes, but I'm having trouble even getting someone to return my phone calls.I have checked out HomeAdvisor and google reviews, but wondered if any investors might have a good lead. 

I should mention we found them last Friday when snowmelt and heavy rain from unseasonably warm weather caused our basement to flood (we have owner-occupied duplex). 

There are other types of niches that have fairly good "all weather" holdings such as mobile home parks and self storage. 

Invest for Cash Flow and never appreciation and when this "crash" comes, you should be able to weather the storm somewhat.

I assume the house is in Ohio, I am in the Chicago area, same weather, those reasons sounds really bizarramgo.

Of course, we become tougher and stress resistant the more experience we gain. 

So if you can get yourself a property that can take a 10% shift and still cash flow within your "recession proof" price range, I think you can weather any storm that comes your way. 

Those who resist to change, we may see then moving out and joining another services in the real estate industry.

And if you're in the middle of a lease term, you won't be able to increase rent to account for your new heating bill.Cheapest way to get around this, IMHO, is to leave the existing heating gear in the hallway, and whichever heating system it's connected to, pay that tenant's heating bill(and adjust the rent upwards accordingly as heat will be included.)Installing an electrical resistance heater in the hallway to save money would be like running on a treadmill and doubling the speed because you're not getting anywhere.One other possibility- if the building is very well constructed/insulated, the heat from the apartments might be enough to keep it sufficiently warm in the hallway without supplemental heat(doubtful, but you never know.)

In either szenario holding real estate is very helpful, as long as you are not leveraged to the gills and can weather a storm.