While your deposit remains safe as equity. 

Quote from @Zachary Deal: Choose neutral safe tones and get nice materials but don't splurge too much on very fancy cabinets, counters, appliances that someone else may not value the same as you.This is so true.

Never fully trust anyone that isn't willing to share the negative aspects of all this.As I'm sure you've experienced, this can be a very rewarding path to take and depending on your grit and determination, overcoming all the pitfalls are well worth the effort.Cheers and drive safe!

I simply teach Subto and have done so for 30 years, legally & safely.

However, there is no specific holding period contained in the tax code or regulations and there is no "safe harbor." 

The six month cd isn’t the point my understanding is that I can’t just take out the HELOC, I need to actually use the money for my plan to work and a short term CD seemed safe and reasonable 

My mission is to have people use creative financing  safely, ethically, and legally.

However, it's a safe bet that these respective areas will continue to appreciate steadily for the reasons noted.

If you use cash flow - it's more safe imo and debt leverage is risk but reward if you execute on a value add project.

Jason Hartman and team referred me and is currently happy with them so I would say they're a safe bet.