The difference between real estate & traditional stock investments is the ability to leverage debt for relatively fair interest rates (discounting inflation & rate hikes).

Home prices in my area are still very inflated so a majority, if not all of the money from the HELOC would go towards a down payment (thinking 20%).Do a HELOC on our current primary residence and use that to invest in 1, 2, or maybe even 3 properties in a different part of the country where prices aren't so high.

As you already knew there are many benefits to being classified as a High Net Worth Individual but the reason that you are seeing them continue to invest in real estate are, tax benefits, stable growth in value, equity, savings, hedge against inflation, and stability over the long term.

While rent growth in 2022 is still higher than any previous year on record, it is the fourth month in a row year-over-year rent growth declined,” note Yardi Matrix analysts.Yardi Matrix said rents are forecast to increase at slower rates for the rest of 2022 as the economy “cools off.”Inflation rates will take a while to ebb, “causing consumers to cut into savings and their ability to afford increasing rental rates will lessen as the year goes on,” states the latest report.Meanwhile, rents in the single-family build-to-rent (BTR) sector continue to grow and reached another all-time high of $2,071 after climbing $23 in June.

However due to inflation and other reasons it is much too difficult and too much of a risk as my first home and first flip to do such an extreme makeover and too for me to handle.

That's a good point, but inflation is killing any sort of wage growth.

The home affordability index is shifting higher and higher, wages have grown a bunch but need to slow down so inflation does not get out of control again. 

With inflation at 40-year highs, if financial freedom or a full-time career in real estate is the goal, you've got to find ways to put your cash to work.

Inflation is 8% and you are charging 0% so you are losing money every month on that note.

“Over the long term, the average appreciation for homes should be 1% above inflation.”