Just plunking down 20% and getting negative cash flow.

The fact that you are using it as a personal residence may negate you from being able to write off the expenses. 

If you just care about the summary see Takeaway at the end.Here is what I did: Looked at which cities had the best Cumulative Returns [(Appreciation + Cash Flow) / 2010 Purchase Price] from 2010 to 2018 and tried to see what factors had a positive or negative impact on Cumulative Return (CRet)How did I figure out CRets?

Negative. 

In real estate I only have 15. 

I, on the other hand, have a property manager who is prepared to do showings on one of my vacant properties in the current climate.

Don't shy away from anything negative.

Even if you test yourself not sure if it will satisfy section 8 (assuming it’s negative)

I only have one vacancy now in San Francisco (in a less popular rental neighborhood), which went from slow the last couple of weeks, to now (2-3 days) showing no sign of life.

However, at this stage, we have a bit of an issue where seller's should dump to get their 'potentially' highest price but buyers don't want to buy to much and end up with negative equity due to a decline in real estate values or get hit with extension risk buying in below prevail market rates and returns.So I think we will see inventory circulating and may very well see the same inventory a couple of times before it finds an executable market price.