Washington DC area (The City, Northern Virginia, Parts of Maryland), although not recession proof, have strong fundamentals to weather a down economy.

I looked into Santa Cruz last year as there is a lot to like (college town, weather, beach life, proximity to Silicon Valley) but I couldn't make the numbers work.

@Tonya Weathers While I do not have really a recommendation for the splits, I wonder if a JV is what you really want to do if you are going to be doing most of the work.

Go ahead, argue away against that BUT before you do I suggest doing some research of my "contrarian" market forecasts for the last 3 years, you just may change your mind given my track record.

You just need to take the long view while making sure you can weather any storm in the short run.One other comment on rent vs own cashflow is a portion of your mortgage in principal pay down, this portion increases with every payment, and is essentially you paying yourself and should therefore be considered accordingly.

You’re absolute correct, I do believe the Airbnb and short term rental market will recover, lucky I’m not in a high tourism area m, hopefully everyone in those markets can weather the storm.

Weather is mild and the people are welcoming. :)

My general advice is to explicitly forecast all future cash flows from the property through and including its eventual sale. 

Normally neither of them pour in this type of weather. 

I'm glad to hear the first deal wasn't a total debacle, i've already weathered the cost of no tenant for some months.