They might prefer to see the funds used for improvements on the property securing the HELOC.

I'm looking into potentially house hacking a small multi-family home, preferably in northern NJ (such as Morris county) or Westchester, NY if possible, but I'm open to other areas that are hopefully within about 1.5 hours (driving or public transit) of Manhattan.

We also have preferred venders in place for lending, insurance and Property Management.  

I much prefer Loreto or Mulege. 

This is why I prefer to have Property Managers for properties who know all the landlord-tenant laws in my rental cities.

That is also why I prefer new construction homes over older homes, even if they are rehabbed.  

The one issue I think I’ll have on my hands is I prefer to house hack again in the same town (appreciation seems to be great along with rental amounts) but I’ll need to refinance my current house hack into a conventional which I doubt is at 20% equity yet since I don’t think I’ll have a valid excuse to have two owner occupied loans in the same town.

Logically, if you fall into any of these fields, get a property manager:Located far from your rentalAren't familiar with the laws in your stateDon't have a way to properly fill work ordersI prefer going with PM's because they alleviate the stress of dealing with the property itself, so that I have more time to focus on other things (like getting more properties!)

If I have an option of doing banking at my desk instead of the branch, I'll prefer doing it at my desk. 

Most folks would prefer to drunk drive home from the games unfortunately.