I wrote a short book on it called "Stock Market Crash Diet" (go to Amazon and type my name Randall Rodenhouse and it will pull up)  which is a guide to alternative asset investing and explains all the different government sponsored retirement plans.  

Ryan Dao I don't know how old you were 10 years ago but "way back then" everyone did invest in real estate because it was a great way to become rich...until it wasn't...There were a plethora of reasons why the crash happened and I'm not fanning the flames of another decimation but real estate has risks.

$1500 and lots of workVs$1225 with less work I'd prolly try to rent the room on a monthly basis and see if I could get a little more for it.If you have a friends place you could crash at you could rent the whole apt for way more.Check your lease, maybe you can change the lock set to a keypad.

We saw housing prices go down more than 20% the last crash.

Is a crash in the investment market in these areas inevitable?

If the market crashes, I think Malden may crash faster than Medford and Watertown - Just my gut feeling.About flipping house, yes, it is a fast way to realize the appreciation of value and may be less risky than long-term holders in some ways.

@Jason Ma, if they can't tell you exactly when the next crash will arrive, what good can they be?

Either the far out longshot possibilities or the crash and burn with as minimal impact as possible scenario.Landing this crashing plane into a pond and hoping to survive.Since title issues were discovered the bank can and did move the COE.

What if the market crashes/rental market crashes/ hurricane/flood?

If you’re afraid the market will crash again, be conservative and put it in low risk buckets.