With the lease up for renewal next month, we’ve decided to keep the rent at the same rate for this year.

I gotta say, I had a hard time deciding on the monthly rate and deposits.

Happy to talk further on the area (we are large enough to offer options to focus on student rentals/UW Madison campus, and anything from Class C to A locations or suburban/surrounding communities) but to help you consider broad initial search, you could start by deciding how important cash flow is. 

I have decided to look into a heloc, I'm a bit newer into realest state investing, I have completed a couple of fix%flips this year, I currently use hard money for the purchase with 10% down and I cover 100% of the rehab, with that said even just doing a couple of homes at a time, I find myself around 200k out of pocket, I think it would be a bit easier on myself and wife if we utilized a heloc vs just cash, my primary should appraise around 1.1m and my mortgage is 640k, I'm looking at pulling about 250k for a heloc, I don't want to refi the home and cash out as I only want to pay interest on funds as I use them ( I know I won't always be using the heloc cash) Any advice or even knowledge for people in a similar situation, and anyone have a referral for a Heloc?

After reading & researching, I have decided to take the real estate route, read 'Rental Property Investing" and came out with the plan to buy single family homes LTR cash flow.

Its a placeholder until the court action is decided.  

Say, 3 month later, I decide to do a cash out refinance of the replacement property at 75% LTV because the rate is lower. 

Whatever you decide, it sounds like you're in a great spot and I wish you the best of luck! 

Try to interview a few before you decide.

Even if you don't feel you have enough info to give me directional advice, how would you go about deciding whether to address the problem?