Increase earnings, decrease expenses, save up, and then you can invest. 

Most of which are tied up in court from 2020.

You should vet the company to ensure they have the resources to pay the rent.You ALWAYS do background checks on the people living in your property because if you let in an axe murderer and they harm someone, you are likely to get sued.Whether or not you charge an application fee is up to you.  

You didn't mention the higher Florida insurance costs. 

We just fixed up the house and have it on zillow with several applications in 24 hours. 

I have ran a poughkeepsie meet up for 21/2 years.  

You need to study up.

Yes, I’m a fan of harvesting the equity built up in properties.

If anyone in South Florida wants to link up, hit Joe up!

There's actually a good chance your overall "cash out" with the HELOC will be higher (most banks will go up to 90% vs 80% is generally the highest a cash-out will do) albeit at a higher interest rate, but you can protect the original mortgage rate if its very low (2020/2021 rates).Also consider the flexibility of only pulling on the HELOC when you need it thereby keeping expenses down.