Real estate investors must be careful as they move through this uncertain environment.

The stock market is incredibly volatile, so unless you're a day trader capitalizing on the fluctuation or you're someone parking their money in an index fund for the next 30 years that's not the most appetizing option.

Additionally, you have taken your retirement investments outside a tax-protected environment, potentially making it more difficult to grow. 

Ideally, you want to ideally be in a landlord-friendly state regarding tenancy and evictions laws, as well as a generally business-friendly environment regarding tax laws and public policy.

The numbers you mentioned,your market,the current financial environment are causing many new home buyers in Maryland to cancel contracts.

BP is incredible and @Jaysen Medhurst is right that Dave does seem to have all the 1031 answers!

I got some incredibly low offers for very nice homes.

Never been cheaper- and you can insure it for very little cost if you don't feel comfortable taking the flight at the time.And if you were to find a property, make an offer now, and get it under contract, you could always back out later based on your contingencies if you don't feel good about the environment later.

This said, the Fed is pumping money into the economy which as we saw in the Great Recession should cause asset values to increase both as means of chasing yield with interest rates near zero and as a hedge against inflation (holding cash is not good in that environment).I don't see consumer spending snapping back to pre-COVID levels.

We have significant cash reserves and 75% equity in current RE portfolio of 5 SFR'sWe have several hundred thousand currently in 401kWait until market rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, then...Withdraw $100,000 from 401k, penalty-free, pay taxes over 3 yearsUse $100,000 for 25% down payments on two duplexes (30 year fixed mortgages)This would be incredibly stupid.