Then use one of the alternate rent models to optimize income.  

Here is the problem that often arises with that; Many Real Estate agents are focused on selling you a house, not helping you back out of a deal, so they tend to give you a lot of optimism instead of sober reality. 

Optimize operations to save time and costs, and small upgrades like smart locks or quality linens can noticeably boost your income.

Connecting early with a CPA who understands real estate is a smart move so your first investment is structured for optimal tax advantages.

When the transition happens back to recovery and expansion it will almost be too late to take advantage of it because of the aforementioned blurring of the lines.Is this a hot take or eternal optimism?

I’ve seen investors in similar situations build strong foundations by using that time to optimize operations and line up creative financing strategies for when the market shifts. 

If you are someone who's really hands on and want to do lots of tweaks yourself to optimize comfort and save energy, then smart thermostat might be an upgrade to your vacation rental property.

I'm still in the marketing phase, have a site built, learned a ton about optimizing it for the most views.

It provided a higher "optimized" rental range of $2,100-$2,200 to which I said "hmm, I wonder if people would be willing to pay that in this area to begin with?"

if we all continually "optimized" we'd be constantly transacting.