I have quite a bit of equity in this house that is now valued just south of $180k however the thought of giving up my precious 2.75% rate for a HELOC makes my stomach turn.

Maybe it's a bit more LA mentality, but I don't see someone from Garner to east and up to Wake Forest stomaching a 45 minute one way daily commute to where the higher income in-office jobs are located, which I'm leaning into for greater likelihood to afford rent now and increases later.

Definitely makes me sick to my stomach. 

@Nathan Frost I had the exact same issue, got excited, bought more and more properties and then I realized that on such thin margins it's just too stressful.My advice would be forget about spreadsheets and being fully optimized on capital allocation, but rather decide what's your risk tolerance and how much of these losses you can stomach.

I will add that out of my STR's, this is the worst performing so if you can't stomach slow months this may not be the market for you. 

Ken's not totally clueless, but he's FAR from the "Guru" status he portrays and that's the whole rub to it; the guy with a tonic to ease an upset stomach saying it will cure ANY/ALL ailments, regrow limb's, lol.

@Norberto Murillo Jr, If you can stomache the current cash flow now you will be far better off rather than refinancing to a higher interest just to get a lower payment.right now those loans are paying off quickly because of the age of the loan and the amortization of it. 

Even tho I clearly state in all intro calls that they are a "hit and a miss" in tertiary markets like Toledo and to not rely on them when investing with Ohio Cashflow.We will gladly use your "trusted" appraised value as the purchase price (Even tho our office manager clearly explained via email it was way too low and to dispute and try again, etc...)Minus all income received over the last 3 years.Minus all the time, resources and personal funds spent trying to satisfy you (We have a list).Feel free to compare your receipts to ours and we will buy it back today...Investing in a property, collecting cashflow for 3 years, getting a high repair bill, getting flustered and expecting the provider to buy back the property isn't fair in my opinion.You can't go to a restaurant, eat the food, fill your stomach and then say "the food was $#@% give me a refund."

However, Iḿ glad you still have the stomach for it because  maybe small in numbers, I know a handful could be genuine. 

If you can stomach low cash flow and focus on appreciation, you can get into better growth areas.