when will property prices go back up?
patio11: You don't need "dynasty wealth" to manage property.  It is one of the most common small businesses in the United States.  (Fairly low capital requirements by the standards of physically-extant businesses, low expertise requirements, well within the capability of many middle class families.)  It also has significant risk and requires lots of manual labor.  (That is why I don't do it.  You can outsource the manual labor but that ends up outsourcing the positive part of the cash flow, too.)Risks:+ Property prices fall.+ Competitive options for housing in vicinity of your property decline in price, causing rent you can charge to fall.  For example: if you can buy a modest house in Detroit for $10,000 why would any worthwhile prospective renter pay you the $500 a month you need to cover the mortgage and maintenance on the modest home you bought back when Detroit had viable industries in it?+ Can't find a tenant, get to eat mortgage.+ Renters trash house, enjoy $20,000 repair bill.+ Renters stop paying rent.  Enjoy eviction process.+ Your local government decides evil landlords are exploiting poor people to make money, institutes rent control.  Enjoy low rents, impossibility to unload property on another sucker, etc.