It feels like neither consumers nor landlords are truly benefiting from this situation.

A Heloc is an open end mortgage same as a credit card the only benefit is that you only pay on the amount you borrow.

Explore multifamily or out-of-state investments for higher yields.Setting up an LLC provides liability protection but has no tax benefit for you now.This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship.

These tend to have less management headache but still have strong returns and tax benefits. 

Thanks for the mention @JC Wu.Even if a “cash only” deal isn’t coming across as suspicious, you lose one of the greatest benefits of investment real estate without the power of leverage!

The Midwest is going to benefit, no doubt.

They market as “lock in now at today’s prices and reap the benefits later”  but that is just not the reality.

But... what I need to review is how this is achieved as I would benefit from building the new unit as an ADU.

You need to do a cost-benefit analysis to determine if it's worth it.  

Not the most scalable method, but I like the benefits it affords me while I am still a smaller operation.Completing 500 builds in just over 10 years is impressive for someone who just sorta fell into it.