The best underwriting in the world could not predict him waking up one day and realizing he bought as the wrong time and that he's just going to simply stop paying.

Assuming the GC is competent and has worked in the area for awhile, he should have a team in place that he or she is comfortable with, and will be able to provide predictable results.

While it took a LONG time and cost almost double than my partner/quasi- contractor predicted…I am walking away with 100% return on my investment.  

My prediction: I think prices will continue to rise.

Especially since you will be out 18 months for the new construction homes, so market will be hard to predict in CT. 

@amy webberIMO, you can plan for as many capex exenditures, repairs and unexpected disasters such as a basement flooding or an increase in taxes, but because not everything is completely predictable, you may run out of funds quickly or take a loss on the property for years due to the fact that your capex calculations were off.  

So you have these folks with 760 FICO scores who are perfectly happy to ignore the orders of a judge, or who are perpetually unable to pay their entirely predictable income taxes year after year after year & have to continually make payment arrangements because their payment is always late. 

I'm currently looking for small multi-family (2-4 units) properties in suburbs of larger metro cities where I can still achieve >=1% rule.Next 5 yearsA lot of financial market commentators predict recession in 2020.

They have been predicting doom for that last 15 years. 

For long term holds I would say a home equity loan is your best bet as a fixed rate and term can usually be obtained providing peace of mind and allowing you to predict your future expenses more accurately.