The more they move in the longer they stay--- you never know what their needs are going to be.

Point being if you are leveraged to the hilt with no cash how are you going to make those required repairs etc?  

We do lending and we ask the question - if you have been doing this for ten years and don't have any money where did it all go? 

Great reason for not pulling deductions forward.I have been retired from a W2 job for some time and my income is at an all time high and will just keep going up with more RE investments. 

It’s great to hear that you and your wife are going into this!

I've also consulted with a lawyer but wanted to check if anyone else has ideas about how best to go about this. 

If you’ve been active in the area, I’d love to hear your take—what’s working, what’s not, and anything I should watch out for.Appreciate any tips or advice you’ve got?

Sara,I see this a lot and I always ask if you know you are going to refinance in the long run to consolidate the Heloc why not just do a Cash out refinance instead. 

People that think they’re going to quit their day job because they bought some rentals. 

We are budget conscious and don't want to spend much on the interior by going with a general contractors(that will be the last option).