Bottom line: the tenant doesn't get to decide how to pay you.

In the end, you have to decide the cost / benefit / risk / reward of doing one makes sense in your situation.COST - You have outlined some of the costs, but not all. 

Appreciate it @Mohammed Rahman decided to sell and move on to the next deal with more knowledge.

I'm struggling a little bit on deciding the best agreement to make sure I can get some cash flow, payback the HELOC, and not drive the new mortgage up too much with the Refi out of the HELOC.

That helps you eliminate properties but not decide what to buy.   

I'm planning on flying over, just trying to gather info right now and trying to decide where to start.Have a great day!

A coworker mentioned they learned how to invest in real estate using the Bigger Pockets website so I decided to check it out to see what it was all about.

One was purchased a  few years ago by an out-of-state owner who has decided to sell and has doubled in value.

The fresh perspective from someone outside of my network is crucial, that way my expectations can be closer to reality if I decide to reach out to new contacts for this opportunity. 

Once you've thought a bit about what your ideal wholistic investment portfolio looks like, if you decide that you want some kind of more active real estate investing in the mix, I cannot recommend more getting Start with Strategy by Dave Meyer and the accompanying workbook The Strategy Planner.