And also because sellers who haven't owned the property for very long no longer have any equity in the homes with these falling prices and are deciding to simply stay put instead of selling thus reducing the supply of homes available which keeps demand at a tolerable level.Yes I realize that long term historical mortgage rates tend to hover in the 6-7% range, but historical data is only useful data if we live under the same overall economic conditions as when that data was current. 

I am talking about people who fall into the 40% of the population that don't identify themselves as lib or cons.

Keep in mind that when negative reports are true, about the only thing you can sometimes do is wait it out and let them fall off.

While such guidelines are a good starting point, they fall far short of walking an inexperienced investor through the process of conducting such an analysis.

My original thought was to use this money as a short term fall back while securing a cash out on a SFR rental.

not sure how the 50/2% rules flows in to weekly rentals, as expenses might run higher (60-65% -- just a guess with the added vacancy and turnover)I would do nothing less than 6 month leases on your duplex, and assuming you are done building out/rehabbing at $40k, than $1,000 back in rents per month would fall within the 50/2% rule ASSUMING you don't get bent over backwards on a HML.

Someone is thinking that under current conditions, there is no appreciation and it's better to take the cash and let it fall in.

Broadly speaking, I think people interested in real estate investing generally fall into two categories:1.

That could be a sign something broke loose in the floor, caused pieces of the ceiling to fall, then covered up for a quick sale.

Those contracts tend to fall short when it comes to protecting the landlord.