Since generally the benefit of a house hack is to hold the primary residence loan as long as possible, if you hold it long-term, you could still be forced to pay the mortgage insurance 10+ years down the line.Plus, you can only have one FHA loan (with some exceptions) at a time, so I'd rather use this house hack for 5% down which I can repeat and save FHA for another time. 

All you're doing is paying for that NCF upfront. 

We accepted a pre list offer of $236000.00 with us paying the closing and are scheduled to close mid March. 

If you want to keep it, then would you refinance that new build to pay back the HELOC? 

I spoke to local owners who have been audited for increasing rents without there permission and they had to pay back the difference!

They pay their bills on time and make good tenants.

Did you inherit this home with a step up in tax basis or will you need to pay taxes on any gains if you sell?

I'm thinking if I ask the tenant to pay the other half, I'll probably need to make an amendment to the lease to reflect that.

@Michelle Hardy Just adding, check your local city too for their requirements, many have specific requirements that the state may not have.Here in VT in the towns my properties are in, there is not a requirement to keep them separate or pay interest. 

They are great sellers, but then want you to pay extra pretty much for EVERYTHING!