For any one person's situation, one approach may work better than another.For someone who has the cash flow, and has the equity but not the cash reserves, the HELoC can work, but is NOT the only choice.

And they did it for years before my family bought that ranch.Many my age born in the 50s we did work in Ag in the 60s  I lived in Cupertino CA and I cut Cotts in the summer.. thats splitting apricots in half and laying them on a big wooden board to then dry naturally in the sun out doors.. hard to find REAL dried apricots these days U can still find them in Trader Joes though.. 

Most importantly please be sure to keep money in reserve.

Expenses: What are the operating expenses, including taxes, insurance, maintenance, and reserves?

Depends who you ask and how secure you feel about your income On the one hand being debt free is great, but leverage allows us to build our wealth quicker.RE investors are notorious for being cash poor, so I would avoid thatIf youre able to comfortably save 100k a year and have enough reserves, I think buying leveraged properties is the best way to scale.You could kill two birds with one stone theoreticallyThey say paying an extra month a year towards principal saves you 7 years on a 30 year fixed mortgageUsing that logic you can add 2+ months a year on your primary, and buy 1 property a year and keep enough reserves. 

Its just kind of the nature of the beast and investing were over 50% of all homes are rentals its a different lifestyle than what we are used to at least on the west coast were maybe 10% of SFR's are rentals  renters rent apartments.

I could, but the $$ fallout in lost reservations would probably be greater than any gains.  

Sounds like its time to sell since the HOA fee just doubled which usually means the HOA has not been managed properly and failed to build a strong reserve account.

This is appealing as I want to spread my cash reserve as much as possible. 20 percent down each time will really limit my progress.  

And always set aside reserves for the unexpected.always look at location, schools and is there an area that is gentrifying where we could take advantage of better appreciation Inspections are paramount.