People head to the beach in just about any kind of weather here.

These are the kinds of markets and neighborhoods that will weather a downturn, but they are also the kind of markets that you will get steered away from by only listening to the siren's call of cash flow and ignoring everything else.Markets and neighborhoods that have high cash flow day 1 are priced that way for a reason ... renters in these neighborhoods rent there not because it is a nice place to live, not because they want to, but by and large do it because they have to, because they can't afford to live anywhere else.

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.

MF), but rather what your overall goals are and then figuring out which vehicle gets you there the quickest with the least amount of resistance.  

@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.

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. :)

Normally neither of them pour in this type of weather.