I've been in the real estate business for 14 years and own 14 real estate offices in the US. My advice is to buy real estate in areas with a high concentration of universities and hospitals. For example, Boston & New York City, are home to great medical and college facilities. Areas such as these hold their value because teachers/nurses/doctors are a higher than normal percentage of the work force and this shields unemployment numbers by a certain degree in times of recession. As well, when you are near colleges and hospitals, there always seems to be demand for real estate.