I'm on the same page as you and feel as there are far better/safer ways to pay off your house and the HELOC should be used for both acquiring real estate and a checking account to fully leverage your monthly balance paying off the debt as fast as possible and repeating.

If arrears feel overwhelming, selling is the safer option to avoid foreclosure.

One lesson learned: Create a good relationship with contractor and shop around for the best pricing on materials.

The city also seems to have many improvement plans in place to make the area more walkable and safer for citizens to freely navigate the downtown area and support local business.

It is close to the downtown area but the majority of area is bigger lots and on the other side of a prominent hill that gives it a more out in the country feelFoothills is the most exclusive areas with higher price points and lots of upper end shopping and diningMarana and Oro Valley are the newer "suburban" areas of Tucson that have the laid back walking and biking paths, golf clubs, snow bird / retiree type activities that draw visitors in and then get hooked and eventually buy homesIf you haven't tried Tucson yet, there is quite the variety and with snowbirds leaving, there are plenty of current STR's ready to host you as the summer warms up. 

we are using REsimpli for our CRM and they can pull data etc. its pretty much a one stop shop for running an investment firm/renovating/wholesaling.

Financing- build a relationship with a regional banker, don’t shop for interest rates, start small and build history and loyalty they are your team, Cross collateralize, deposit CD/MM or custodial account with bank for loan, give them monthly updates, nail your deal analysis, do stress tests on your deal analysis-cost/interest rate/deal length/ sale price etc. 12.

Shop around if you can to determine what is a good rate to pay.

Then start shopping for houses, don't engage in FOMO or real estate agent pressure. 

I agree with the previous guys comments and say go to free webinars and   Make connections as best as you can ( at coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants and sports cloud bars, meetups, etc).