Find others who are doing what you want to do and learn from them from a local perspective especially in the niche you're planning to pursue.

Are you looking to do fix/flip or BRRRR?

Here are some thoughts on your choices:401k Loan: This can be a good option since you're borrowing from yourself, but it comes with repayment risk, especially if you leave your job.

Quote from @Christina Venegas: Quote from @Dominic Mazzarella: Quote from @Christina Venegas: is it possible to do HELOC on a primary home that was purchased 6 months ago with 5% of down payment, the property was $145k and it was appraised at that time for $160k. i need advice from investors and lenders, if anybody knows some lenders that could help me I would really appreciate it, thanks for taking your time to respondIt’s definitely possible to get a HELOC on a primary home, but most lenders have a seasoning periods which are typically 6-12 months after purchase before they’ll allow it.

Back to investing there are war-zone to invest but people do invest in those locations. 

And is it a route that you would recommend?

I'm not sure who is buying that paper at 85% but I hear its out there somewhere.

How many properties do you manage, where, and what types?

If you were going to just do a remodel like a flip and not add living space I would say that would not get you more money.

To record it as December, you would have to back date it and the bank reconcilation would be off.