A fully paid off property which now should be worth at least $300K with appreciation, I can access 75% of that with a cash out refi so roughly $225K - refi costs.To me, its a no brainer to do bi-weekly IF you plan to keep the house for that long AND you do not plan to refinance (rate or cash out).

When I do another LTR I plan to self manage and in a different area but for now my focus is STR. 

I do plan on making other templates for tax liens, bankruptcy, divorce, and absentee owners.

If you decide the terms for a home equity loan are more favorable compared to the HELOC then it's just a matter of knowing exactly how much you need for closing on a specific property because you don't want to get stuck paying on debt that you aren't planning on using right away.

We have multiple rental properties and I do not plan to sell our primary.

I am seeking recommendations for an attorney for estate planning ! 

If you are planning on living in the house, 5% down is the lowest you can go.I would also encourage you to start tracking how you spend your money and see if you can cut spending to save more money or find ways to increase your income.

My plan is to use FHA, 3.5% dp, seller covers closing costs. 

I do not want to go into another vacation market but rather a metro area with a more diversified economy again just to get into a different type of asset.That being said I do want to continue to short term rent the next few properties we get at least in the first few years of ownership in order to increase cash flow to combat these higher prices and carrying costs before potentially converting to more passive long terms down the line.Therefore I am looking for markets that 1) have a decent draw of visitors year round 2) have regulations that allow strs in some parts of the city 3) Are in growing cities in the west or south.Below is a list of markets I have identified as potential places to look and I was hoping to get some insight from either other investors doing the same thing or agents/investors in any of these markets on whether this is potentially a good market to explore or not.1) Salt Lake City (this is right at the top of my list due to its proximity to ski resorts, expanding of the airport and long term strategic business planning of the area but I have very little knowledge of this market)2) Denver 3) Phoenix (used to live in AZ and like the fact that the state of AZ seems to look favorable on strs)4) Tucson (see above but lower home prices/potentially less appreciation)5) San Diego/LA (these are attractive because of their proximity to my home in Irvine)6) San Antonio (love that it is very close to the booming Austin and feel that this is a market that could see some real growth in the future)7) Tampa/St Pete (I have always been very interested in this market for both short term and long term rentals)8) Raleigh (have invested in Charlotte and love NC but again very little knowledge on this area)Any insights or advice on any of this would be greatly appreciated.

The plan would be to live in that property for 3-5 yrs, pay down the mortgage, then turn it into a rental.