I think a lot of investors are drawn to real estate as a safer and less volatile place to park their money than other markets. 

When one considers there were only 17 trading days in the previous fifty years when the S&P rose or fell more than 5% in a day, then I think you can appreciate the unprecedented volatility we have experienced!

Of course we all know how volatile the stock market is and should realize by now that would "should" happen isn't always what "does" happen.Some would say go with precious metals but I have no clue how you really value a pretty rock.

So if CA crashes, my hedge would be #4 and #2, since FL pretty volatile too.

The rate (on the primary) had a lot of volatility over the three weeks when I was closing so I get that, but 5% sounds high on a multiplex.

Higher caps are often associated with big cash flow but it is also a measurement of volatility.

Just install the sw on some non-volatile medium like a chip or partition the drive and blast the other partition.

Of course, you have to understand the volatility of your stocks and manage risk by having extra cash just in case, as David mentioned.

Specifically, you can buy put options or invest in volatility funds so that you can earn on the downside (especially if you don't want to deal with short selling).

Denver on the other, in my opinion, has a bit more of a volatile market and could be hit hard if the market crashes.