To HELOC or not to HELOC? That is the question

[Joe Engelhardt]

So here's my situation: I live in Oregon but I invest in the Midwest because of prices in my area. I currently have 2 SFH rentals on conventional loans and would like to invest in another soon. I have nearly $300k in home equity in my personal residence and am contemplating using my open HELOC to buy another rental. I understand there are risks involved, but I feel it would be minimal since I'm only looking at using around $80k for the rental purchase. My questions are: recommend using HELOC or not? How hard is it to refinance into a conventional loan to get out of the variable rate of the HELOC? How long will I have to wait to refinance, if that is even possible?