Essentially, eliminate the long term financing piece and just do HELOC...at least for a little while. 

This eliminates all the annual LLC costs, the cumbersome work and worries about operating within the LLC rules and tax laws and a DBA saves thousands and thousands of dollars over a 5, 10, 20 and 30-year period.Don't let your ego get you!

So knowing it's all cosmetic eliminates all contractors.

As I’m looking, my main concern is vacancy, since if I can’t get tenants to rent by the room I won’t be eliminating my housing cost.

@Susan Maneck - Yes, eliminating your rent can be a huge form of "yield", living in your property gives you huge tax incentives upon sale and in New York you would rather avoid anything over 4 units due to rent control and rent stabilization complexities as a newbie investor.

This would eliminate these issues. 

If you are able to self manage then you're eliminating that 10-30% management expense for yourself which makes it look good on paper - but remember to account for your time and effort to make it successfully work.

Other options you may consider would be a 2nd loan or HELCO (they have higher rates in the 5s and 6s) or if you did the loan as an FHA you could refinance as a conventional loan and if you have over 20% equity you can eliminate your mortgage insurance and lower the monthly payment. 

I once thought that due to my situation I should not pursue anything but though mentorship I learned proper planning eliminates fear of what happens to everything once the time comes.

This was a primary residence for 8 years, a rental for only one or less.The good news is that it does qualify for the Section 121 Exemption, which is a better plan if you qualify. 1031 essentially passes the buck on the tax bill, Section 121 ELIMINATES the tax bill.It sounds like you qualify - you lived in it as your primary residence for 2 of the last 5 years (actually 4 of the last 5).