You'll potentially increase your stress, fail to replace your lost income, and possibly lose part or all of your investment property equity.Focus on replacing your job and stabilizing your finances.

My best  success seems to come from tenants that go to a job where they work for a company.

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.

Perform the same task in each app to ensure a fair comparison.Load a property with pictures and details.Market that property.See what your marketing looks like from the public's perspective.Submit a fake application to see how easy the process is.Run a credit/screening report on yourself.Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, and attach a fake invoice.Enter charges to the tenant's ledger.Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.Sign documents electronically.Run owner reports.After testing a few apps, one should clearly stand out.

It requires some work—you’ll be a landlord after all—but the financial rewards can be significant.If you’re willing to live near your tenants, take on property management tasks, and want to grow your investment portfolio, this strategy could be a game-changer for your financial future.Final ThoughtsHouse hacking with a multifamily property is more than just a way to save on housing costs—it’s a proven method to accelerate your real estate investing journey.

Not an easy task for a normal person like you and me. 

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.

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.

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