Some areas of FL could have bigger drops if they are 2nd home areas.  2nd home areas are volatile. 

Leveraging debt doesn't have to be risky if you are using leverage to buy non volatile (relatively), stable assets in good and proven markets.

As long as your holdings aren't too volatile, you'll be able to maintain near your original LTV.

I would vote for #2.With real estate, I can get much better returns with much less risk and much less volatility than stocks can provide.  

Since buyer and seller may be not be professionally involved in real estate, there may be more quality issues and negotiation volatility than with realtors due to their inexperience and emotions getting more involved with the direct negotiations.As to the price, you may find off market deals that are lower than market or higher.

However, my job's stability is somewhat uncertain due to the current volatility in the big tech industry.

Cash flows on average (4500/yr [with volatility])...recently appraised at $330,000 which I leverage to pull equity out through our refinance to make commercial real estate acquisitions What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Lots of volatility right now. 

Early/mid March was incredibly volatile; I'd quote someone a rate for a refi, and by the time they were done filling out our quick-lock 10 minute application after talking about it with their spouse for 45 minutes, it would jump 0.375%.

Light Rail + PATH is in my mind dramatically inferior for anything say north of 34th Street in Manhattan, and even for lower streets closer to Midtown bus + subway seem to be at par.My take is taking the bus where the distance to the city is short enough (such as from near 30th street in Union City, or most places in Weehawken) works very well even if adjusting for any volatility/absolute deviation due to traffic.There is a psychological barrier with buses, where the latter are perceived to be significantly volatile vs subways, though I have observed decent volatility with subways as well.