Tax benefits should be considered but not be the sole factor.The 'main benefit' from a tax perspective should be to generate a high return from your real estate investments and not to pay taxes on the return that you get.If you are able to reduce your taxable income, that should be icing on the cake.

Was it included as a credit/debit on the HUD so it should have reduced your cash to close? 

Having a group of friends living in an apartment complex creates a sense of community and reduces turnover.

Quote from @Michael Challenger: I have no qualms with hard money lending, but I need to learn more about the process and structure to these for typical deals so that I am more comfortable and in a position to reduce my personal risk and risk to investors as much as possible.

Account ClosedI recommend that have a consultation with your tax accountant and/or financial advisor on ways to reduce your taxes. 

The down fall is a Heloc can "Never" be used as an asset or for PITI reserves required when buying a new Primary or investment property.A heloc can also cause major issues with credit and one slight hiccup or missed payment the bank or lender who is holding the Heloc can close or reduce your line of credit.

PM made a couple attempts to collect and then offered to cover the damage because toilet replacements are not that costly and continuing to pursue the damages did not make sense for them.Airbnb is supposed to cover guest damage but if they refuse to pay for guest damage their insurance has reduced value and cannot be relied upon. 

We have offered to allow her to pay a reduced rent for the first few months as well but I am worried that may create some sort of limit on how much we can raise the rent on her in the future.

Perhaps if your partner was a general contractor or handyman type there may be some merit there to reduce costs / increase profitability.If your partner enjoys deal sourcing, a better move might be for him to become an agent - so he could legally collect commissions from finding deals and managing properties for multiple people. 

So while moving back into it for 2 years does bring the 121 exclusion back into play, that exclusion is reduced based on the percentage of Non Qualified usage over the holding period.