I also chose it because of the lack of speculation or other outsized effects on the market: no booms, and no busts.

Has the speculation mania hit your market?

Otherwise it is all contrived speculation.

Michael Williams can't be serious.He needs to understand half the folks on BP have looked into stocks and still favored RE.We can't all be morons.Maybe if he looked up a bit from the spreadsheets once in a while,he'd actually be able to see all the houses in his neighborhood.Simply assuming any kind of returns on any amount invested in the stock market is folly.Unless you pick stocks yourself,average return with most mutual funds hardly beat inflation....I know,because they still manage my retirement stock account.And if you do pick your own stocks,you could get burned big time with a few bad bets and lose big.And you don't claim depreciation on stocks.I bought a duplex last month for 126k.Its already rented and cash flows 1600/month.Roughly 16% COC/ROI.It's in a great area and will appreciate with equity.If I put the same money into mutual funds,I'd be lucky to get a 6% ROI unless I buy speculative stocks and risk losing it all.Or 2008 could happen.If 2008 happens with my duplex,I still keep it and reduce rent to keep tenants in it.All I could do with the stocks is watch the sea of red.Selling would be a grave mistake.Michael needs to put down the spreadsheets.

Either that or people who are playing the appreciation speculation game.  

My experience is that lenders are reluctant to loan out 90%+ of funding on speculative ventures.

Some people call it speculative investing, but it doesn't take a genius to know that people naturally want to live in places like CA, Phoenix, or Florida. 

Cities like NYC where I live are highly speculative in nature, meaning the only way to make money is through appreciation (there is no cash flow when cap rates are 3% and rent to purchase price ratios are below 0.3%.

Your real estate goals and strategy, was it born out of sound logic or speculation.  

I will not speculate to the long-term but I have heard some stories about small room sizes and Ann Arbor.