I've been studying different real estate strategies and would love to understand more about how the permitting process is evolving in that area.Did the realtor mention any specific changes in local ordinances, or was it more of a general observation based on market trends?

Based on your question, you have two core decisions to make, and they may conflict with one another - where do you want to live, and where do you want to invest? 

In almost all investments, you should have a solid base of reliable, cash-flowing, and hopefully appreciating assets before striking out into something new or riskier. 

We only have one small property, so I manually adjust the price based on what I see for the month. 

Some DSCR lenders will do it based on expected rent but still, they would not want you to be doing an owner occupied home with their loan.

Investment also spiked in Class A Short-Term Rentals (STR) and investors started paying higher and higher prices based upon anticipated STR rental rates, that exceeded sustainability based upon Long-Term Rental rates (LTR).

I don't get the term "DSCR loan"   I mean all loans for 5+ units are based more on the property than the buyer.     

HELOC on the TH you're living in sounds the most doable (banks have more appetite to lend when it's owner occupied).Two cents - HELOCs can be great, but it is still debt and you'll want to make sure your base case expected return makes the juice worth the squeeze.

It really becomes a time value of money calculation based on when you want to sell your Class A rental.

It is very algorithmic-ly dictated based on and numbers and percentages.