Not living off their portfolio.It's eliminating expenses.

You can't really understand what is happening here unless you create a process of elimination Stains area most likely due to water penetration.

Having no debt in a deal eliminates a lot of unknowns(risk).

Examples of short and long term uses, HELOCs & CES.HELOC(Short Term)- Use a portion or all of the HELOC now knowing you're going to pay down quickly, which eliminates payments and interest.HELOC(Long Term)- Many HELOCs have 10 year interest only draw periods, while CES have a P&I payment, HELOCs may have less impact on cashflow over the long term.- Perhaps you think rates are going to move lower.

To me, reducing risk is about eliminating variables -- and IMO you have too many.

I signed an addendum so I must live there at least 1 year.I plan to get the property reappraised after renovations to eliminate PMI.

Collecting ID and CC pic has eliminated UNTIL now we realized some scammers had used AI to generate the CC info onto a generic CC pic and also used AI to generate an ID.  

Basically, if you are committed to this investment thing, you will need to make some uncomfortable/hard choices to eliminate the credit card debt and lower your monthly debt.Once that goal is complete, you can begin practicing habits to live below your means and start building up your savings. 

You could make your exact same argument for eliminating the bank payment from your cash flow statement.

It can eliminate or reduce the largest expense most of us have.