After the 08 crash, I started buying rentals and built a portfolio of 80+ sfh's - all three bedroom homes in areas with good schools.My mistake was selling a bunch during covid.

On top of that, I traded a 4% interest rate for a 6.5% rate, which has made me cautious about scaling further and repeating the same mistake.

You can build a team and people do, it takes time, mistakes, and extra money.

At the end of the day don't let pride get in the way of making the right business decision and that's a mistake real estate investors often make. 

Guys like Pace Morby will tell you it’s not rocket science.The “learn-as-you-go” mindset can lead to costly mistakes that are avoidable with the right foundation.

One mistake or big unexpected expense could ruin you if you only have one or two rentals that are not cash flowing.That said, especially in the current environment, if you are coming from a very strong financial position then there may be times where it may fit your goals to invest in a highly appreciating area with no or negative cash flow.

It would be a huge mistake to jump into a strategy without understanding how to deal with problems that may very well arise, more especially when the property is in tenant-friendly states. 

So my numbers are right, my property analysis was correct, but the system didn't allow for any mistakes.

Meaning any of your Helocs can be closed or reduced at any point if any of your banks feel you are over leveraged, miss a payment, credit score drops, even by mistake it happens all the time.I would get rid of the Helocs and put some cash in your bank so you can use that versus a Heloc. 

Will look into this but I think it may be a mistake.