To answer your questions here though:Alternative options - I was going to sell all my stocks and etfs, take out a HELOC, and some credit cards to try to shoestring together enough to the deal without a hard money loan. 

It's likely a scam anytime they sound like AI or the grammar is weird or they use the word "kindly", if they ask for you to respond to them off-platform, if they say their employer will pay for it, if they ask if the dates they've specified are still open (when they can clearly see they are open on your calendar), if they ask for a video of your property (they probably want to set up a duplicate listing with your photos and video and scam others out of money), or if they want a long term booking and they have just joined the platform and have no reviews (could have been evicted from somewhere else, and hope a newbie will let them in with no background check, they'll end up not paying or credit card is bad).  

Keep your payment at no more than 35% of your income and minimize your credit card and auto debt.  

It is usually difficult to take money against it from the bank, it might not be a 1:1 value add - meaning if you invest 100k into an adu it might not raise your value by 100kThat being said, it can be pretty lucrative especially in expensive and sunny CA - since building lots are no where to be found and existing real estate returns are very poor.My partner builds these units.

Credit Karma has a fantastic "score simulator" tool that you can use to project credit score changes (paying off balances, opening a new card, using an old card that has not been used in some time, just paying your bills on time for 6 or 12 months).

If you are doing long term rentals and raising rents, you will have turnover of a significant number of tenants after their year of renting when you raise their rent.

Everyone knows about that, so I’ll move along.There’s also the big heart…minus the Jesus fish on the sleeve or the cards.

If they support a rent increase, you could look into raising your rents by that amount to offset the cost.

I would raise the rent. 

I always bill back water/sewer/trash before raising rents.