These people say the data looks similar to some data from back at the beginning of the last real estate crash.

If you crash and burn with a new idea, they'll pick up what's left of the wreckage and move on but the smaller banks won't take that risk. 

As an intro, Brandon Turner does an excellent crash course to the book in AskBP: www.biggerpockets.com/askbp039I feel goals will come with education, it's important to know and feel comfortable with the basics just to find what you want to focus on.

On a personal note, I bought my first house when I was 28; unfortunately, that was in May of 2008, right before the crash.  

You don't see houses rising at double digit rates of appreciation, but the flip side is that Texas definitely didn't get hit nearly as bad as other areas during the crash. 

I don't think it'll crash, but there will be a drop of some type.

You don't know if you are buying at the top unless the market crashes!

Sure some neighborhoods like Shaw or Dupont Circle the prices will never really go down much even if the market crashes, but as an investor, you're looking for deals & upcoming areas, not necesssary places that's already over-valued.

Depends.Sell now and wait for the ensuing crash to buy more cheaper?

You may have, like three days to cover differences.Most all brokers allowing borrowing against funds under management, subject to tax treatments applicable.Another issue is stock, banks may not hold stock in portfolio, other than their bank stock, remember the big crash (LOL) nor do they take stock as collateral as they may end up taking the stock and be exposed to market risks.