So, YOU are going to have do the work, unless the market really crashes hard and agents are desperate for closings. 

Even if there is a crash, and people downsize, those people will have a need for self-storage, as evidenced by storage occupancy rates during past recessions.And during inflationary times, our rental rates increase.

Reason I ask is because a friend who does flipping is not doing any right now & says the market will crash & just wants to wait a while until doing it again, and any deals out right now are not as lucrative as before? 

Assuming the market doesn't crash before then, which I'm hearing a lot of warnings about.

People tend to interchange a recession with a housing crash.

Housing prices in my city are outrageously high, which, as my father explained, is good and bad, as the housing market could continue to soar or it could crash...anyways, there's an overflow of students looking for housing, which the University can't handle.

It is impossible to tell if we will have another crash.

Etc.I think its also important to know your investing strategy, wise investors make money during crashes because everyone is running scared.  

Also, those areas had a high number of foreclosures when the market crashed andmultiple houses on a single block might be vacant.

Some people anticipate a Chicago 'crash', but I honestly don't see it happening.