Personally, I would hang on to the cash.  

I’m not a former IRS person.

Have a frank conversation with the property manager. 

I tried to create rapport with the owner over the phone but waited to present my real agenda only in person.   

Not talking about you personally.

I've done enough personal home projects to know, if I find a deck company it'll be 2k, but a GC will charge me 2.5k to over see it...

I would spend money to enhance and update to current standards the search functionality and person to person tagging so it's easier to find stuff.

Dumb question - but are these auctions online only, or in-person? 

Personally, If I could pull out a HELOC, I would use it to fix and flip which will typically make sense as you shouldnt be keeping the money out for that long and you can recycle it or pay it back and build off the capital that you got from. the flip.

The setup felt like a personal connection all in pursuit of getting your business.  90% of it was done by AI and the other 10% came when a live rep was available.