They caught a cool YouTube video and saw everyone else was making all this money so let me join in.

I would purchase a duplex (or even better, purchase a SFH with as many bedrooms as you can afford and rent by the room), and then slowly improve the property. 

Last question, how significantly would the APR improve if we leave 30% in vs 25% or 20% on a HELO? 

The cash flow improves quickly, but the cash flow is so negative on retail purchases that it will take years to reach cash neutral.  

Being that the new property that we buy will become our primary residence and we are buying a fixer upper, how do we get the best tax breaks for the repairs and/or improvements?

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

I live in Germany now, but also invest in Italy.Can't help you with YouTube content from Europe, but I can share some experience from Italy.Where do you live in Portugal?

Say you paid 100k 6 years ago and have done nothing to improve the property value.

. $10k in debt does not seem like it is worth filing bankruptcy as you also will have the filing fees to file bk and if you use an attorney it could be another $5k, To me if you can save $10,000 a year then start saving and pay off that debt, as filing bk will hurt your credit wehere paying off these debts will improve your credit.