Just ask people that lost severely because of oil crashing, a natural disaster that ripped through an area, tourism collapsing, a base shutdown, etc.

This will allow you to weather most storms unscathed, including but not limited to:  pandemics, HVAC failure, sewer line collapse, eviction, etcPeople will also differ on WHERE/HOW these reserves should be kept. 

That said, his employer has been in the news and is having major financial issues and I am not just thinking about whether he has a job today but what about in 2 months from now when all the major players in the clothing retail industry are on the brink of collapse. 

The EIDL might be used for payroll expenses or maintenance expenses, especially if rents collapse after unemployment runs out.If you do accept the EIDL, I’m concerned that (outside of this loan), it may be difficult or impossible to obtain financing while there is a UCC lien on your business.Let me know what else you find out.

I doubt the market is going to collapse there.

The main reason for this is because of snow load.Don't want to take a chance of the roof collapsing  due to excessive weightI would also look into getting some quotes from roofers that can install TPO roofs.

My whole industry is collapsing in front of my eyes.  

As per your second question, I'll quote some information from the Cromford Report:"Using the Intended Use (IU11) chart from Cromford® Public we can see that there was a dramatic change in the mix of transactions during the second quarter of 2020, compared with any previous quarter.Comparing specifically with the second quarter of 2019:Purchases for owner-occupied primary residences increased from 74.6% to 82.7% of all sales across Maricopa and Pinal CountyPurchases of second homes decreased from 10.1% to 8.3% of all salesPurchases by investors dropped from 10.7% to 8.1% of all salesPurchases by iBuyers fell from 3.7% to 0.7% of all salesThe dramatic collapse of iBuyer purchases means they are starting the third quarter of 2020 with much lower inventories than they started the second quarter..Investors were less active during the second quarter of 2020 and cash purchases were lower than normal too - they fell from 21% to 15% of all sales between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020."

I think the issue with so much macro economic discussion is that even if the entire market is collapsing, there is plenty of money to be made on individual deals.

Prices would collapse!