If you're tax bill is $6-8k (minus the 1031 fees), surely you can make that up by taking multiple swings over a longer period of time.OR pursue some sort of owner occupied strategy with that cash if you can swing a live in flip or house hack.

They used that period of unemployment to skip paying student loans and then try to get some kind of program/hardship deferral or something aka "gaming the system".

The only exception might be if you plan to and if your market supports short term rentals.

Quote from @Andrea Wellman: Would like to invest in short term rentals to start and learn from this forum and experts.  

Can you carry the property for the construction period?

I would think with the HELOC, I could run with that until I can do a refi and with the interest rates starting to come down, there should be some gains to be made and I can repay the HELOC in short term. 

I recommend having an attorney draft one that can be short.

The biggest difference here is that you'll pay P+I on the entire loan amount immediately with a cash out, but you'll only pay interest on what you draw on the HELOC during your draw period.

I would generally rent to them even if they are a little bit short on rent to income. 

Here's my take on the decision:First, let’s look at the pros and cons of paying off your current short-term rental (STR):Paying Off Your STRPros:-You Eliminates your largest fixed expense (the mortgage), which increases your cash flow significantly.