And, even then, hitting your rate target would still be extremely challenging unless you were paying points up front, in which case it would probably make more sense to just try to put in a bigger down payment (or pay down the balance if refi) instead and get better terms naturally offered at the lower LTV.

There's nothing wrong with paying for someone to do their job but take the opportunity to learn from them. 9/10 times they don't mind teaching you.  

The worst thing is to pay for a service where you don't get a benefit.If you have STR's and actively manage them, then there is a good chance that you can treat the propreties as active instead of passive which will allow you to offset the losses with other forms of income such as wages, interest, dividends, gains, etc.

If you think you can manage a mortgage, taxes, insurance and the upkeep of a home while paying your student loans then buying is not  bad idea but if you think you will overstretch yourself renting is nto bad either.

Also you're probably not really paying much off on principal on a fairly new loan. 

However, after talking to some loan professionals, it seems that there are always origination fees, appraisal fees etc.My question is, what fees should I expect to pay when opening up my first HELOC.  

I pay for prop stream and love the amount of detail you can add into a search. 

This money will be used to pay down some debt I have and also purchase 1-2 additional rental properties.  

One of our residents was robbed outside of this property and we ended up paying for the resident to move out and sold this property.

Now I spend 5 years hoping they make their payments and somehow refinance to pay off the balloon.