There's actually a good chance your overall "cash out" with the HELOC will be higher (most banks will go up to 90% vs 80% is generally the highest a cash-out will do) albeit at a higher interest rate, but you can protect the original mortgage rate if its very low (2020/2021 rates).Also consider the flexibility of only pulling on the HELOC when you need it thereby keeping expenses down.

Even after that process, we only move forward with a fraction of those investors inquiring about our company.We have many monthly inquiries from investors like yourself who do not want to go through this process and only want to see our available properties.  

There are many factors that may make this investment go worse that this layout.  

I've got little personal resources backing me up but am ready to dive into REI full go.

Go to Airbnb and see what the demand is.  

For the first 4 loans or so, lenders are going to be less aggressive (requiring more down) than if you have several under your belt.

If you had any more questions, I'd be happy to go through them, so feel free to DM me. 

The biggest 'danger' I've experienced in the coaching space was coaches who took the cash and wanted me to follow 'their' program rather than coaching me where I am to get where I wanted to go. 

@Kristian Forbes Short of doing another house hack or negotiating the purchase price down a fair amount, I think that's going to be a tough one to make the numbers work.

That is not going to be a good situation in 5-10 years when there are so many rentals in one neighborhood.