Is the cash flow and ROI working out as you predicted? 

This is much more secure than predicting what will happen to the market in the next couple of years.  

He shared that his predictions for 2019-2020 are that rents will go down because of the over-building of apartment buildings. 

I agree with the predictions about the market continuing to rise at least through 2020.

Besides, who can predict the world and domestic economy a few years from now?

It's a loose goal but I like structure too.I've been successful with some single family flips but they are hard to come by (much less predictable in availability and actually beating out other investors) so I am considering some longer term real estate investing. 

But makes expense more predictable, no major hits at one time, pay it over time.   

Can't ever predict the market, could happen next week or in the next 5 - 10 years. 

If a property will predictably bring in more money than it costs for mortgage and maintenance, you have a good start.

There are many predictions that blue collar and white collar are on the verge of a major flip and it’s just obvious by numbers.