It doesn't matter if the market is hot or if there is blood flowing in the streets or what happens next, if you let the numbers be your guide you will tend to make rational investment decisions with profitable exits.People need a place to live, even when the SHTF.

I'm looking to purchase a single family rental from my great aunt, it's located in a piping hot Downtown Charlotte NC neighborhood.

I'm currently back home and looking to 1) rent out my room and earn some cash flow, and 2) find another hot spot to invest in, and 3) find a lender who will lend to me (great credit score, have collateral land and cash, but no solid proof of income for last 2 years -- traveling).  

We purchased the property in a hot, up & coming area of Chicago (right along the hipster highway) and would really like to have at least one more building around here before the prices skyrocket.  

That is the general outline of what I want to do and here are some questions I have:Is it financially smarter to rent in a hot market like So Cal and buy out of state?

Any spike in interest rates would take the wind out of the sails of this hot real estate market.

This market has gotten extremely hot and it is virtually impossible to find anything that cash flows well.

Any major city in TX is hot.  

@Aaron Mazzarillo thanks for the cheery post you have made me feel better about my properties in Desert Hot Springs because we were rumoured to be where the criminals were released.

And if the market's so hot in your area it might be difficult to get a 203k processed quickly enough, that's a good sign the market is too hot to buy.