I get a lot of questions about housing vouchers and how you determine rent amount allowed.

Affordable housing is about the housing itself and the economic environment it is created in.

Borrowing against your paid off house without an income puts way too much pressure on the success of whatever deal/project you decide to pursue. 

Even if such a loan existed (which I doubt), once Vincent self funds all improvement costs, finance charges, carrying costs etc., I doubt he's any better off.

I think it's about the best time there is to outside of the past to invest and acquire properties.I just recently found an article by Julie Taylor from realtor.com that was posted December 10th that has some predictions on housing markets where "Home Sales Are Set to Soar" with Colorado Springs listed as number 1 with expected YoY sales increase of 27.1% and Denver expected to increase 13.6% YoY quoting Christine Dupont-Patz who is a real estate agent in the Denver area. 

If you are looking to house hack in our local neck of the woods, I recommend reaching out to @Josh Green.

Be careful not to violate any Fair Housing laws during this process.

Is it better to keep adding equity by doing work on the houses while I'm renting them then refinance to recover the initial down-payment to reinvest into another property or to pay down the heloc?

Consult your tax professional: while podcasts are great, make sure you have an existing relationship with a tax professional you can trust.

If you have significant equity in your house sell it