It’s a balancing act between functionality and curb appeal as well.

Given the above, it seems the question is as to whether the loan balance still falls under the decedent's estate as an unsecured debt (since there's no collateral) that has no bearing on the title  - or if it's secured under which the lender will refuse to terminate the UCC-1 filing until the loan is satisfied. 

Discovered by "driving for dollars," the property had an ARV of $215,000 and a remaining loan balance of $86,000.

HELOC are generally balance sheet meaning the loan is held on the lender's book, not sold into the secondary market.

If you can rent it out for Aug 1 (or sooner), return the balance of her last months' rent and deposit. 

We've set up a series of checks and balances to avoid these delays, but curious as to your thoughts.

Consider a balanced approach by diversifying your portfolio with both cities.

The single digit percentage optimization is not worth balancing on razors edge all the time.

Mortgage balance is $166K.

Your penalty could be 5% of the loan amount if you prepay in the first year all the way down to 1% of the outstanding balance in year 5.