At the same time, try to work out a cash for keys deal.

Cah out can be used as an asset and for PITI reserves and a Heloc can "Never" be used as an asset or PITI reserves.I generally work out the options for my clients to compare a cashout to a Heloc so you can see payment to payment, overall costs and rate.

I would side with your wife on this one, I typically tell people to stay out of AC, Trenton and Camden or any D area especially if you're new those properties are very labor intensive 

If you dated for months, really had an intention to tie the knot and even gave her an engagement ring, but it did not work out in the end... 

Your capital is available to do it, but that doesn't mean it will work out well.

They have a place they could potentially close on by the end of the year, but its new construction and the closing is subject to change based on the builder (and the area was just in the path of Beryl, so that timeline could have been impacted), so if that's the only thing they're thinking of exchanging into, I'm inclined to suggest they consider consuming the losses now for simplicity's sake, especially if the exchange timeline can't be guaranteed to work out.

If 2 work out you’re probably onto something and can get bigger while barely risking principle…  

Flips are labor and time intensive but are good for cashflow if done right but can be difficult for new investors without a good mentor.

Doing nothing and expecting the market to figure things out for you generally doesn't work out.

also - traditional, vanilla LTRs don't cash flow anywhere right now without some kind of niche or creative or hands-on or intense strategy.