HELOCs dropped off my radar with interest rate volatility.

Right now stocks are pretty cheap too so if you're willing to ride out the volatility I think you'd do well there. 

Unfortunately, I made a couple of bad decisions and started to invest in vacation rentals in a volatile market.  

If you go back to other recessions you will see similar volatility in the class A vs class C markets.

Ask yourself what the implications of this could be....Look at the spreads on high yield debt over treasuries or P/E ratios on low volatility, high dividend paying stocks - bottom line there is a massive bid for assets in the US that can generate yield in a global negative interest rate environment. 

Volatility can be your friend, not always your enemy, as it will allow you to pick up even more amazing deals when the market is cold than you would otherwise be able to do if there were no volatility.If and when you do buy, do it in such a way that you can stay in and hold through any short term down cycle that may occur and won't be forced to sell at the worse time. 

In the next downturn I would expect many markets to see major declines where others that were not as volatile see less drastic decreases or hold their value.At the end of the day no one has a crystal ball and there is no magic formula that will make any one investor immune to the downturn.

However, this job is volatile based on current interest rates. 

Can you stomach the volatility of extended vacancies?

Real estate is really volatile in LA and OC and we've already had a pretty big run up in prices the last 5 years, so could we be due for a downturn?