They are lending to people who are so desperate they will pay 16+% for the loan.  

https://www.smartcoinbox.com/category-s/112.htmThey have a wifi unit you are able to plug in a standard washing and dryer into the box and the tenants pay through an app.Thanks for any advice.Nathan

during the draw period (typically) you won't even be paying down principal unless you make extra payments.so unless you have cash i would wait. 

Since generally the benefit of a house hack is to hold the primary residence loan as long as possible, if you hold it long-term, you could still be forced to pay the mortgage insurance 10+ years down the line.Plus, you can only have one FHA loan (with some exceptions) at a time, so I'd rather use this house hack for 5% down which I can repeat and save FHA for another time. 

I have a w2 job that pays just enough but looking for opportunities to increase my income to invest more aggressively. 

I have a buddy who does this for a living on raw land, and he pays for the software and gives us all the data for free.  

The worst thing is to pay for a service where you don't get a benefit.If you have STR's and actively manage them, then there is a good chance that you can treat the propreties as active instead of passive which will allow you to offset the losses with other forms of income such as wages, interest, dividends, gains, etc.

Quote from @JooYung Choi: You could consider going for a STR in a vacation market that will give you way more cash flow to pay off the HELOC quicker.

Your first year will be a learning experience, you will want to be close to the action, as you may not have the capital to pay someone to handle everything.

Pay everyone more than what they make now at their construction job, be kind, and give them bonuses based on completion, and they will never leave.