I have a couple of friends who have several rental units in Gettysburg and said the rents are good and he has many professionals who stay for a good amount of time and pay on time.  

Habitutal seems the better plan unless the amount owed to you exceeds what you expect they can pay. 

Relatively small amounts of interest income ($1600+ per year) is the highest taxed form of income I have found if you have kids at home.After earning a few grand in interest, It takes away my child tax credits and gives me an effective tax rate of 70%.   

For example, you could allow them to handle repairs below a certain amount without needing your approval, while requiring your input for anything above that.

The time, effort and amount you will save is typically inconsequential.

Then offer the creditor a percentage of this amount as settlement in full.  

Both properties have a substantial amount of equity that’s essentially sitting idle.Would it be a good idea to tap into this equity (through a HELOC, cash-out refinance, etc.) to fund future fix-and-flip projects or purchase additional rental properties?

I do a fair amount of busines in that area.

The income amounts look to be long-term rental (which they are and came in 30% lower than what the STR average did) and 2. why did the appraiser look at homes 20 miles away to compare to when there are PLENTY of rentals in town...

After one of my talks, some students, who had paid a significant amount for the top tier memberships, asked if they could buy my dinner.