@Ryan Rubel There are certainly quite a few restrictions in those two areas, in Carlsbad you have to be within the coastal Zone...I have a multifamily in Carlsbad Village a block outside of the coastal zone so I'm unable to operate it as an STR unfortunately.

Are their locks on the rooms that aren't supposed to be accessible?

You also get access to conventional financing. 

Regarding a HELOC, most banks will only provide a HELOC up to 75-80% of the property value, so you may not be able to access a HELOC for a while.

But also with low debt or free and clear property that they can easily access any time in the future with a cash out refinance.

It normally doesn't cost you any money to open and to be able to access that large amount of equity to buy or stabalize your current portfolio allows you so much more opportunity costs.For instance, I took a $200K LOC out on my primary residence when I first started in real estate.

You want access to the coach you want, not some backup.Thanks for the shout out my friend!

Try to buy “blocks of time” in advance?

If you have a lot of equity and little cash flow, you should consider accessing that equity to use elsewhere.Another factor to consider is your interest rate on the debt.

In your scenario you'd have a potential tax event on that $200K difference.Here's a creative way to access most of that money tax free however.