If you are looking at a big bank, a HELOC might get yanked, depending on how the COVID situation plays out (and how the economy rebounds or doesn't).

Good job realizing your initial exit strategy wasn't working and rebounding with a new exit strategy!

If you're not concerned with this and believe that property values will hold or rebound then your pursuit of a property should not be any different in this market than it was before the recession.

Lower end markets are being hit FIRST. but I think they will rebound quicker and easier then the mid-high end markets. for instance the people who are employed in those lower end markets are also some of the highest rate of "essential" workers. so I think what will happen is the mid-high end markets are going to suffer from lack of consumer spending that will likely come from wage loss from people in those 2 lower classes. the owners of those consumer goods and services will suffer. 

We have a diverse, growing, upscale economy and lots of well-paying corporate jobs.Things are slowing right now, as they are across the country, but our diverse metro Phoenix economy will help us rebound when COVID 19 reverses course.

Have brokers offering stuff super cheap, hopefully will rebound soon. 

Article link below shows how Austin is one of the best cities to quickly rebound from Covid.https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/coronavirus-austin-minneapolis-coronavirus-recovery-moodys

I wonder if real-estate will continue down this path or rebound strongly.

Buyers are rebounding faster than sellers and I suspect we'll have a low supply/high demand for a few months.

Why not shoot for something that cash flows, with or without airbnb and then once that market rebounds you can switch from long-term rental to short-term?