Yeah, the tricky part is always calling the top. Locally, we hit it a few months ago. I'm already starting to see panic sales of flips. Thing of it is, though, how stupid is your rental market right now? 'cuz ours is stupid. Without getting too dumb let's make up some numbers:

Let's say we bought the house for 60k in 2000. Current market on it is 130k. We pay a $500 mortgage that matures in 9 years (we refinanced into a 15 in 2009), but we were renting the fucka out for $750. So we're already $250 ahead on renting vs owning in this shell.

Funny thing, though - in 2009, when the economy tanked, the rents didn't go down. When all these people lose their houses 'cuz they got mortgages they can't afford, it makes the rental market worse because if you've got a place that you can afford, there's suddenly a lot of people who don't have the nut for a downpayment, don't have the credit rating for a loan, but need a roof over their house.

If the economy takes a shit when it's amenable to me, I'll likely buy another house, not sell this one.