This psychological trap causes us to stick with a plan even if it no longer serves us and the costs clearly outweigh the benefits."

A cash out refinance puts the cash into your bank and can be used as PITI reserves or as an asset.A Heloc becomes another trade line on credit which can potentially cause a higher DTI and lower your chances for future approvals.

Can you tell us more about the water damage you got? 

Whether they are section 8 or market rate, a bad tenant can cause $10's of thousands of dollars of damage really quickly.  

The last time I did an insurance MTR it involved my work truck, an alternating current generator, 150 feet of extension cord, a sawzall, an appliance dolly, my 14 foot trailer, a house with fire damage and a $3000 Samsung French door fridge.Don't expect to make any money without doing any work.

What you think will cause more ware and tear on your house.

Thank you Ned, that is exactly right, we actually check a condo/townhouse about 2 weeks ago, the thing was a condo with a basement, I cannot tell if it was a condo or townhome, anyway, the ceiling in the first floor was bowing, the 2nd floor, one of the bedroom was sinking, could not tell how this damage was done but the walls came apart from the floor, you could see the roof of the unit bowing inwards towards the structure a bit, and their "general contractor" estimate that for 5k they could straighten the property and level everything, even 1 window and 1 door looked so uneven that you would think  there was something wrong with your eyes...5k for structural damage, good luck with that one, we ran as far as we could from that....but we have seen they do inflate their ARV, since we learned the hard way , we go through these deals with a magnifying glass, I knew I was not so picky, numbers do not lie.Another thing that caught my attention, which I do not know if I am overly suspicious now that I am older, but they want to get the closing for us at the same time/day they are getting the property from whoever they buying it, which it seems to me they try to save on the closing by having a "dual" closing when in reality is just 1 closing and we are the one paying for it...I do not know there are few things that do not click right with this folks.

I've used an extra guest fee as insurance for parties to recoup some money for damages successfully.

One is the order of possession and the other is an award for the monetary damage.

These are only given to he ones that pay their rent on time and don't cause me any trouble.