Real estate is less volatile than stock, historically around one fifth of standard deviation compared to stocks.

If you want the portfolio that keeps coming up, the usual portfolio usually consists of 1/3 S&P, 1/3 Bond and 1/3 UVXY/long volatility. 

Investing with a really short time frame exposes you to all the risks of volatility and market timing. 

It’s practically impossible to time the market and I think real estate is a good hedge against a volatile market.

should i sell a portion of my stocks now and keep cash since my primary focus is going to be real estate which is a much less volatile investment?

Being new to rental investing I didn't know if there would be any considerations around market volatility (if there is any) that we should be aware of as we get deeper into our College Rental strategy.

Rates can range, and we are in a very volatile rate environment.... if i had to throw out numbers, i'd say expect anywhere from like 8% (bridge) to potentially 14% (hard money)

Experiment to see if I can increase the volatility of the money I invest.

It's definitely designed to be a long-term strategy to minimize risk, which doesn't compete with systematic stock market investing for someone who can tolerate that episodic volatility/risk and is confident of long-term return of 8+ percent. 

HELOC's are also volatile meaning they are a risk based line of credit so since they are monitored monthly if your credit score changes or drops or your debt obligations increase the bank/lender can and will close or reduce your credit limit.