Are these conflicting priorities?

[Mark Costa]

Are the following goals in conflict with each other:

Goal A: Prioritize paying off your primary residence. 

Goal B: Save as much cash as possible so you are ready to BUY when recession hits.

At first these goals seemed mutually exclusive to me but then I wondered...

Can't you accomplish both by taking out a HELOC against your primary residence while directing all spare cash flow to your mortgage until it's paid off?

Rationale here hopefully is obvious... that you are reducing / eliminating your personal mortgage while at the same time being able to pull the trigger and invest should a worthwhile opportunity come up.

If this theory is sound, I don't see why you wouldn't keep a HELOC open even if your home is 100% paid off?

Thoughts appreciated. Let me know if I am missing something?