If the value of the property declines (due to an economic recession, etc) over the next couple of years, you could get stuck with negative equity and be "upside down" on the next one.

I have thought about the appraiser field too after meeting the gentleman but its being squeezed by market forces and also by government regulations after the last housing crisis.

The house sold on 5/18/2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis and was one of the few homes that sold in the area since the outbreak.

Individuals that secure life insurance policies have actually included peace of mine that if death happens - their family will be economically safe.

I look at it as a leverageable variant in other words as long as I don’t “overpay” for something or try to sell during a market crisis I can usually always count on that mortgage as being something that I’d always be able to at the very least pay off in a sale therefore not really considering it as “debt” but more a less just a floating variant.What are you guy’s thoughts/opinions?

Originally posted by @Eric Weldon-Schilling:In a country where there is a homelessness crisis, a pandemic, and people are being forced out of neighborhoods because of investors buying all the houses, leaving a perfectly good home vacant is incredibly unconscionable, immoral, cruel, and evil. the fact that you own it outright and don’t have a mortgage just makes it worse.

I am seeing all the eviction moratoriums and the real likelyhood that our economic woes are about to get worse.

I guess my question is more of one about economic returns: can direct real estate investing returns outstrip the tax shelter, company match and appreciation/dividends a 401k provides?

It's a broad economic indicator that is tangential to real estate.

We are now 3-4 months into the COVID-19 crisis.