Took my friend/fellow CNY investor 6-9 months to get a non-paying tenant out.

I texted her the rent amount on Tuesday afternoon (per her request) & the various ways to pay it - she said she would "get with me on the payment". 

At this time, I am having to pay all cash in order to close.Purchase price is approximately $600k.

With the HELOC and then converting it to a term loan you will probably be paying higher interest and/or shorter amortization period on conversion which will mean higher monthly payments.

Sure, I could look for a higher paying job, but I was wondering if anyone has any creative short-term methods to improve my ratio.

It pays to have a look at the EMA floodmap and see where you are in regards to potential flooding. 

Owner ended up settling with the tenant, but then we had to threaten to sue our own client to get them to pay our legal fees.- Owner must sign a Hold Harmless to indemnify us against any potential tenant lawsuits relating to the work their contractor is doing.--- Another lawsuit resulted from owner's contractor taking down basement handrail to get supplies down the steps, then they didn't put it back and tenant fell down the stairs.- We also negotiate a reasonable completion date, depending on the Scope Of Work (SOW). --- Who gets all the phone calls and wastes time calming a tenant down because the owner's contractor doesn't show up as scheduled after they took time off from work or a 3 day job takes 3 weeks?

I walked to the house and met a man who says he was cleaning out due to the loss of their mother in some few weeks back.The guy told me she is  left with 12 years mortgage on the property to pay the bank.

What is not deductable is paying yourself for work done. 

What do you mean you are paying $400 additional dollars more than what you are paying now?