With a HELOC, how much of that $40,000 will I have at my disposal .... 100% of it ?

@Adam PI'm far from an expert and this is a question for @Brandon Hall or @Steven Hamilton, but  your capital gain/loss on the mortgage may be treated separately from your currency gain by the IRS.However, before you money even goes south, note the following:Sale of Canadian property and non-resident tax If you are disposing of real property situated in Canada, you are subject to a non-resident withholding tax of 25% of the gross sales price.

Came across this website and am thrilled to have such a goldmine of information at my disposal.

@Shaun Steckler there were reo's in phoenix in 2005, there will always be some and i see the methods for disposing of them are changing all the time.

We built that home from scratch with hard work and every bit of disposable cash we had. 

Because you can do both , you should take the tools and advantages at your disposal and use them. 

then when they have to dispose of it you might get it right. 

And since they don't lend money as a profession, you'll be setting the terms.Do this all the time and before you know it, you'll have all the funding you need always at your disposal. 

I would also use every tool at my disposal  (3 day notice, 30 notice to vacate after 2 months of late rent etc) to train the tenant to get rent paid on time. 

If you had the opportunity to inspect the kitchen of every restaurant before you ate there, or the chance to ensure (for instance) that the hospital disposed of its bio waste properly before you were treated there, then it wouldn't be necessary for the government to inspect those places.