Be careful with that though; make sure you have access to money in case of an emergency.

newbie question about how to remove pmi and get heloc.we have owned our home for about 4 years now. this is our only house, mortgage is held by freddy mac, servicing company is qrl. the county recently reappraised our house for the next tax year and thinks the value has gone up enough to give me over 20% equity. i called the loan servicing company to ask about dropping pmi. they say they wont go by the county estimate. they want me to pay them to send an appraiser out.im also considering looking into getting a heloc just to have open as an emergency fund.. which would need another appraisal. im wondering if there is a way to somehow do both of these things and only pay for one appraisal. at over 500$ that would be a lot of money for me to pay twice.also, would there be some kind of conflict there?

Their lack of move-in funds shows they are not very good at managing their finances, and your parents will be one "emergency" away from being stiffed. 

Instruct them to turn off the water to the building in emergency leak situations.

My wife and I are very close to getting our 6 month emergency fund fully funded.

Dead equity is more risk because it's cash you can't access in an emergency.

If it is your reserve funds you can use it for reno or use a HELOC and have the property then pay off the HELOC holding the reserves for emergencies.

Emergency vet centers are another health related investment worth considering.

Some other basic steps are pay of high interest rate credit cards, student loans, and any other debt, set up an emergency fund, and buy some life insurance. 

The lease (which has expired) states that under normal circumstances and if it's not an emergency we need to give a week's written notice.