We're going to purchase our first few properties personally; however, I can only use our current insurer (Encompass) for 4 rental properties before that is tapped out as an option. 

yes, you can tap it, but at a high interest rate. that just puts more pressure on whatever you're investing in to be a home run and beat the rate you borrowed at. 

I might use the HELOC as an emergency fund knowing if I tap into it I now have to aggressively pay it down.Then main thing is you don't want to overleverage any property and if you use a second mortgage to buy a property, you are essentially 100% leveraged on that property.

Ditto on tapping out.

.🧠 Tap into Their Pain Points: Listen for words like "stuck," "frustrated," "exhausted," "drained."

That will minimize your turnover rate and make it a lot easier to attract quality house mates, plus you'll build equity quicker due to more rapid appreciation which will enable you to tap that equity and build your portfolio quicker. 

He tapped on a door and a woman in a fleece zip-up and sweatpants appeared.

With the HELOC you can tap into that equity in the home when you need it for other projects.

If it were me I would do a HELOC to be able to tap into that equity, and use that to fund other investments.

You have a lot of knowledge that we all need to tap into.