You are in the right place and asking all the right questions.There is quite a bit to learn before you take the plunge and many of them are variable.

I think there are two variables when determining if you got your money's worth.1.

What would you all consider a safe amount to pay in PITI per monthStill too many variables to say what is safe.

This is likely your highest valuation, but it needs to be positioned appropriately for sale, and a good listing agent will be useful.It is alternatively a straight investment property that would probably sell at a 9-11% cap in a "nicer" area as you describe this, but your local market will dictate this number, there is wild variability from market to market.

If through a listing broker it will depend on what the listing broker entered on the MLS and MLS rules.In Georgia for instance on FMLS if as a broker you screw up and enter commission wrong,mistake things etc. you can be on the hook for the commission or lose access to the MLS.MLS's are sometimes controlled by REALTOR associations and other times are private entities that are non-profits or for-profit organizations.Also the brokers/agents involved it would matter if they were REALTORS or not.Generally your state's real estate commission does not handle commission disputes.They only care about license laws.The agent can argue procuring cause with the other agent but it should not stop your sale.Simply you would close and get your proceeds and the commission in question would be froze until a solution was given and signed in writing or a court order.There are so many variables to this and it is state specific.Procuring cause is a chain of events leading up to a sale of a property.If the chain is broken generally the broker/agents is not due a commission.The moral of the whole story is the buyers agent needs to learn how to protect themselves in the future.I am not going to court to get my agents commission when I only charge them a 300 flat fee as a broker.No legal advice

This would be a great idea if you could find a way to actually get it to work I think it's going to be difficult to do so because we aren't hearing more about this but that doesn't mean it's impossible.Also thank you for the warning about HELOCs - I would not be getting a variable rate but locking for 5 to 7 years.

Just as selling a property held for 364 days can have a significantly different tax implication than the same one held for 366 days, my task is to identify revenue and expense items where there might be tax year variability.

In theory, as rates rise prices should be adjusted to offset the added expense of borrowing, but there are so many other variables that could counter that relationship.Knowing the relationship will help determine better investment strategies.

Too many variables.

I should also mention that there is a second mortgage on the house (HELOC), which has a variable rate and balance of 34k.