Would you be better off selling and purchasing a less expensive property that would require less carry should it become vacant for some period of time?

HELOCs are specifically helpful in this case so long as you are consistent with paying it back in a timely manner for the next transaction.

At this time I manage and renovate majority of all my units to keep cost low but most likely not the best use of my time although I'm skilled at it.

Over time, I learned a lot about what works (and what doesn’t) for new investors.1.

We love investing into properties that we can hold long term and we have been fortunate enough to have great tenants through our intense vetting process that stay with us for long periods of time.

Rinse and repeat as many times as life allows, or convert to buying pure investments.Consider employment with a property management company.

This was my first time buying a property solely for an investing purpose, and Melissa Justice was the person that I was connected with to help me pick out properties.

You can pre-screen them for free, then run the credit/criminal background only for those that pass your initial review so you're not wasting time.

I am unsure how you think this can recover a negative equity position any time soon.  

A VA can be trained to fill out contracts and paperwork anytime to free up your time.