There previous events in US history where national home prices all decreased at once such as the 2008 financial crisis that caused the flooding of properties to the market from foreclosures.

Just to follow up publicly with some PM's that Courtney and I had.I am personally in a stable real estate market that is still strong economically relative to most of the country, and I am using 65% right now instead of 70%.With the general economy, the decreased buyer pool, and tightening credit standards from the banks and lenders, I'm becoming more conservative on my wholesale deals to make sure they move.

Then the real estate/mortgage crash occurred and along with it the rents decreased due to all the houses on the market. 

Should I go direct with the agent (dual agent) to address the issues and ask for repairs, price reduction, or decrease in purchase price?

Whereas PriceLabs is a fixed rate per property at $19.99 for the first and as you accumulate properties the price per listing decreases.

At the same time, I've been contacted by a few unhappy landlords that want to file a complaint against their property managers for doing an inadequate job.  

This is a decrease in demand. 

Once rates decrease the prices will increase and create more competition.

Right now more properties are owned by big companies than ever before, which is quickly decreasing the opportunities that smaller investors can pick up.

1) Decrease travel expenses for X amount of time (maybe 1 year) so you can save more toward a down payment. 2) I would temporarily decrease some of your HSA and 401k contributions so that you can scrape together a down payment. 3) Work to house hack for your 1st property.