I must say that I am biased as my parents bought one (sold it after market crash and it still hasn't recovered from the 2010 timeframe)

I don't have experience with crash pads for pilots so I didn't include that category. 

I believe in reading a good book but field work is a crash course and the best way to go.

If rents don't crash ,my residence would basically break even after the re-fi and higher mortgage payment.

You do it after a crash when you know the market is going to increase.If you lost $1,500 a month, that would cost you $90,000 in five years before accounting for vacancies, capex, and other expenses.Appreciation plays are for the wealthy.

Then when the market crashed, those houses of cards came tumbling down.

Or at least they did during the 2006 crash.

For example, Dallas' housing prices are higher now than they were in 2009 before the crash.

I would think that after the housing bubble and crash that home buyers would be more aware of the market they are entering and investors even more so.

<<< The 3 ShastasThere is a great rental market there, as it was very hard hit when the market crashed, as the entire economy was rooted in construction.