It sounds like you are off to a great start for 2025 and have a good plan.Finding good deals is often the most difficult part of the process. 

We were offering $300 off first month and just recently increased the incentive to 50% off first month.

We often would offer concessions such as no security deposit or do half off first months rent or even a discount off the first couple of months.

Jaron Walling said something that caught my attention, "search for and buy a bad roof, leverage it during the negotiation"....especially of the property has been sitting on the market longer than normal for the current market, a "bad roof" might be a gift from the real estate genie.My point is this: get good at estimating and fixing a bad roof (or any particular problem found with most houses that sit on the market longer) and you'll get comfortable buying/fixing properties that scare off other buyers. 

And recently, after much pushback, they backed off the plan to not let you transfer the permit to the next property owner when you sell.

Ft)For ARV, it is best to have an experienced real estate agent find comps for you to determine a safe number to work off of. 

My contractor brought me a house off the market.

Read The Hands-Off Investor by @Brian Burke.

If you used a loan to rehab your property and find yourself in a difficult position, doing a straight refi (just paying off the old mortgage) will be easier than trying to pay off the original loan and take additional cash out.

I'd like to use this to make an "all-cash" offer on a SFR, and then convert that to a conventional mortgage to pay off the HELOC.