I also have more than enough money in taxable TSM index fund and could sell some in a pinch which fortunately, knock wood, hasn't happened yet. 

If you had equity there could be ways to tap that with a refi or line of credit in a pinch. 8.

The best they can do is keep a short list of local housekeepers and handymen and call them in a pinch.  

@Nick Wu appreciate your concept and wish MORE owners embraced it instead of penny-pinching their PMCs.

They were already top of market and pinching another 20-40 bucks a month was not worth losing a good tenant over. 2-3 years ago, when the market was crazy and just about anything rented, then i would be more aggressive with my pricing - albeit not over market. 

That meant pinching pennies, driving older vehicles, and making incremental moves (1200 sq ft → 1400 sq ft, and at one point even downsizing from 1600 back to 1200).

People over last few years are consistently getting themselves in troubled waters by simply jumping straight into the deep end, assuming and hoping it will all work out, then finding self in a pinch when it doesn't. 

Penny pinching a little once in a while is ok but you will never get big by acting small.

It's the liquidity pulse, and the biggest pinch is a smaller fed balance sheet.

In Columbus, Ohio for example, the market is still hot for flips and rentals because you can find affordable properties in the $120K–180K range that hit the 1% rule, but investors here are definitely feeling the pinch on timelines and labor availability rather than getting stuck with financing.