You think the economy is in the dumps, so sit back and wait for prices to crash :)

I remember reading in someone (maybe Groucho Marx's) autobiography, about getting stock tips from a shoeshine boy and an elevator operator prior to the 1929 stock market crash.

It isn't that the market has real ups and downs, it is that individual properties have extreme ups due to mortgage fraud and then they crash.

If the market crashes again, you will see it at the time and then you may think about hedge if you can't sell.

For example, would the median house price be a good range if I am considering the rentability (e/g. a down market or a financial crash of some sort)?

Must've been a fun 2 year crash course in REI hah!

But, one missed step and the whole house of cards will come crashing down.With a good liability policy there is nothing wrong with holding properties in your own name, there is nothing wrong with holding them in a trust or LLC or corporation.

Here's a great example that I like to point out to people - back in the days before the crash, banks were loaning people much more than a house is worth.

And then it all crashed.

The local economy stayed afloat from a large British Petroleum refinery project, staying off some of the deeper affects of the crash.