Forcing appreciation gives you some extra equity insulation from a drop in prices, or if you would rather be more aggressive it allows you the ability to cash out the extra equity via refinance or 1031 to redeploy it, but this also has added risks, there is no free lunch.Conservative financing, with lots of equity and cash flow margin for error, and cash reserves is another key ... in a downturn the quality of cash flow is every bit as important (I'd argue even more important) than the quantity ... what levels of margin are appropriate depends on the quality of the asset, which directly affects the quality and volatility of cash flows; a class B property will tend to have lower initial cash flow but more steady and increasing cash flow than a class C property ... judging adequate margins of safety is the really tricky part, because not only do you need to factor in quality as stated above but also what may be perfectly adequate in a "normal" market may be grossly inadequate in a downturn ... and yes, cash flow is affected in a downturn, it is not somehow magically immune; rents may not go down, but they very often do stop.

Even now I still get the fear bug come upon me thinking of my next deal or all the "what ifs".

At the end of the day, nothing is free, you will pay the price for free in expensive mistakes or lost opportunity cost or time lost or money or all the above.  

It helps if you can do most or all of rehab work yourself.

If you get in front of them, then you could potentially loose that client or all your investor clients if they find out.I would also say that most of my clients would never do the deals I do or want or be able to do them. 

Broadly speaking, there are two types; offsite (like SFR, small apartments, etc) and onsite (large apartments with leasing offices on the property).For offsite, I usually see 8-10% of collected rents, half or all of late fees and 1/2 to all of the first month's rent. 

Are my calculations incorrect or all these investors clueless and buying anything on the market?

For Texas licensee's, advertising is defined as a communication (can be either written or oral) which induces a member of the public to use the services of the real estate licensee. 

There are so many benefits to moving some or all of your portfolio outside of the coastal states.

They should have focused on customer loyalty first and got that right or all of the people here thaf are saying they’re looking for an alternative might have stayed.