The easiest and straight forward option would be, as you said, to sell the current residence, payoff the HELOC (or most of it) and then get back to saving with your jobs and the rental cashflow.

The important part of investing is the calculations of a deal, having capital, and a W2 job that will help you get loans.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

Some do a great job, many do okay, some do a terrible job. 

Now we're seeing incredible population and job growth and major companies moving and developing here like Intel and Amazon - great macroeconomics and strong rental demand.

When choosing a location, focus on markets with job growth, population increases, and a diverse economy.

., @Jay Hinrichs and @V.G Jason have done an excellent job of laying out a flaw in your thinking, and I will take it a couple of points further.1.

Once again: Great job Mike!

I will treat a witness as a trespasser.I want to really emphasize that this lady is a major headache and may have mental issues.It is possible she has been fired from her job as well. 

Note: This all pertains to the 2022 tax year and I still have a W-2 job which is the main source of my income.Given I've only owned a rental for one year (also my first home ever) and I'm very new to rental-related taxes, I of course hired a "good" tax advisor/CPA to help ensure I stay out of trouble with the IRS.