There is higher appreciation on the coasts, but also considerably more volatility.

Real estate deals provide safer investments without the volatility and risk of the stock market.

Time and time again, I hear that the military (Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard) are constantly moving people into the area which means that compared to other markets, we are stabilized and don't have as much volatility as other markets.

So many people are waiting for a rinse/repeat scenario of the bubble/crash from 2009, but what if that was really just a brief period of volatility in the context of the longer term uptrend, never to be repeated again in our lifetimes?

Most HELOC's are based off prime and these are consumer based products (rate determined by margin which is fixed + prime).However the commercial departments in many of these banks or credit unions offer fixed lines on their commercial interest only products that can be based off different indexes like CMT (contact maturity treasury), SOFR (secured overnight financing rate), or other indexes that are less volatile than the prime which is directly linked to the fed funds rate + 3.00%.This is why the fed funds is at .50% right now and our prime is currently 3.50%.Just make sure to pick a product and index that works with your overall strategy because in between deals you'll be carrying the "equity," you used to buy a property on this line most likely.

This allows our group to be protected from the high interest-rate volatility that is prevalent right now.  

Most people are not open to topics regarding money without turning the discussion into a volatile debate.

If you believe that the stock market may be too volatile for your liking in the upcoming years (which theres always a good chance of this), owning real estate seems to be a much more hands on, controlled endeavor.Either way, best of luck to you!

Yeah, we’re entering into a softer RE market for sure - in some markets especially, but I run an agency that does real estate PPC and SEO in a few dozen markets, and we haven’t seen huge declines in lead volume across the board although certain markets seem to be more volatile than others.

Some low cost index funds will give you better passivity and better appreciation, with a little more volatility.