In the case of the stolen furniture I would also ask how did the police offer develop the competence to read a lease and decide that was a reason to not pursue the case? 

Before moving forward, confirm whether you can qualify for two mortgages and decide on your financing strategy for multifamily investing.

I'm struggling a little bit on deciding the best agreement to make sure I can get some cash flow, payback the HELOC, and not drive the new mortgage up too much with the Refi out of the HELOC.

Do I still have to underwrite the property if I own it and can decide on my own how much I want the buyer to repay me over the course of the loan?

However, nearing retirement, with our past experience in mind, we decided to try it again, this time just rehabbing one house to flip.So, I set up a self-directed IRA so we could use the retirement money we had left after the recession, and bought a foreclosure house that needed a lot work.

Most of the time, we resolve the situation in less than three months through cash-for-keys agreements, court mediation, or by creating enough pressure that the tenants decide to leave on thier own.We currently manage over 700+ units and flip about 20 multifamily properties a year, the majority of which have inherited tenant problems.

Like you, I focus on the sell side but decided to try the buy side with BP lead generation. 

Quote from @Heath Sizick: The best to you in whatever you decide. 

It varies by lender from what I've seen as to when they decide they will wait to close. 

I'm not in that market so I can't speak specifically to it, but to me the deciding factor would be what the surrounding units and area has.