My original instinct was to use that money to pay off my second mortgage but then I heard of a first lean HELOC to replace my second house mortgage and in addition as well getting a reverse mortgage on my primary residence and use that money for investing in rental properties.

“If you are going to do it, do it right.”Be creative and conscious of everything that is salvageable.Refinish and sell/ donate old fixtures.Repair over replace if possible.

It's a newer home that was built in 2018 so hopefully it will be a while until I'd have to replace those big CapEx items like roof, HVAC unit etc.

Purchase price: $270,000We ended up replacing the kitchen countertops with granite, replacing the water heater, and painting some of the walls before leasing it out.

The plumber recommended a sewer trenchless replacement.

A few things that I've identified in the past:Water bills: replace old fixturesElectric: Upgrade to more efficient lighting, etc. 

I have two options replace window for $2K or superglue temporally until it breaks again.

I need to replace the closet doors at a rental.

I definitely don’t want to replace the entire roof right now.

You're coming from a debt free property to potentially using debt, which means you always have to replace the debt on any future 1031 exchange properties.