For them an FHA low downpayment loan is their best shot at building wealth. 

Just be sure the calculate in the interest you are paying on that HELOC into the new project.As for banks, my experience has been that many banks do not like to do HELOCs on rentals unless you have a decent portfolio which they then look at as a business instead of a single rental property.

There ARE people able to create enough hype, misdirection, and lies to successfully conduct a “Capital raise” without possessing the experience, education, knowledge and analytical ability necessary to have a fair shot at success.  

Until you spend 20k on paint and some new kitchen appliances, but the roof and foundation are still shot and the 100k ARV is more like 70k in reality.

I am a first-time investor and am looking for a location (hopefully) where I can get decent appreciation while not having the risk of crazy negative cash flow (like one sees when doing the math on opportunities in Seattle, for example).

And the fact that you have 6-months of expenses saved up prior to inheritance tells me that you're disciplined and decent with money (this is relatively rare).

My sister has a decent portfolio in Denton, TX and over the past 3 years her taxes have gone up 100%+ across her entire portfolio.

Middlebury is decent, c class 

The best part is, it's free for you to use and also checks their vet/shot records!

Any decent lender should allow you to borrow against your airbnb, without disturbing the original 2% loan.Example: I have a 6 unit that had ~$500K in equity.