We as a couple gained an interest in Real Estate while I was working for the contractor.

You shouldn't be ripe for a HELOC for at least a couple of years.

A couple of thoughts that might help.I recast a loan at a point where I had paid enough extra to allow recast (I think it was $5k over).

@Tori Roy A couple red flags I noticed with this company that you posted. 

Yeah @Kent Fang ching, you detailed a couple of the strategy actions we are doing for clients right now in MN. 

It takes longer to realize, but the gain is worth so much more than a couple hundred dollars of cash flow a month.

I’m a couple hours north of Boston but there’s always tons of people looking to move so a longer vacancy or having to lower my rent prices is not even a consideration.

Now you might be like Joe, know rents for a couple of neighborhoods and can quickly estimate expected cash flow from properties pretty quickly (that's what I do as well) but you still need a screening rule so you invest minimal times on properties you will never put an offer in on. 

This is something that could have been moved for a couple hundred dollars. 

A couple things:Personally, I loathe the arbitrage model.