With your strong equity, consider refinancing to improve cash flow, selling a few properties to reduce debt and build liquidity, or re-evaluating rents and exploring short-term rentals for better returns—all while aligning with your long-term goals.

Because of this, I'm exploring what it would look like to begin investing in vacation rental real estate as a way to:1 - Save on taxes by taking depreciation2 - Hold long-term appreciating assets3 - Have properties where we enjoy vacationing that we can stay at when we go to do maintenance (probably 2 areas).What resources would you recommend for someone just starting out who has these specific goals?

You do all of your own due diligence on what to offer based on the data.

Different platforms use varying data sources, algorithms, and criteria for comps, so discrepancies are common.

Its growth rate is intimidating, and my personal interpretation of the data is that the market is actually still undervalued. 

This is all public data, except for the rentometer estimated rents (which you should expect to mark up for being fully-furnished). 

Uses big data to identify properties ……….has a subscription to Loopnet4.

I am just exploring the possibility of this HELOC option.

Louisiana is also a very landlord friendly state and that doesn't hurt either.I have been looking at the rental data in New Orleans lately and it seems like there may be a surplus of rentals available, most likely due to the STR rules causing people to switch to regular long-term rentals.

Drop a comment or DM if you’re interested—let's build a strong local network and explore potential collaborations.