If you're fully underwritten with an approval, while you're not "cash", you'll be much closer and much more desirable. 

Hi @Vinh Tran  I have a few off Market deals in desirable locations in Essex County. 

John - I like   scenarios  1 and  5 ......what you might want to do is to get the heloc  in place for  as  high an amount as  possible   as this  will  give you the  funds  to  do the remodeling  you desire  plus  provide  extra  funds  for  possible  down payment  funds  if you decide to buy  you  dont pay interest  on the heloc unless its pulled out fyi - the heloc lenders  are  going up to a 90% combined loan value in most cases  fyi - if you  decide to buy another  rental property - the min down payment for  SFR  is  15%  of the purchase  price 

@Shankar Sridhar north of the 465 loop is highly desirable Carmel, Fishers, Westfield and Noblesville.

2 things that put you ahead of the pack of most new investors - You are working on obtaining a pre-approval which will help you narrow down your search by area, property type and amenities available in your desired price range AND you already have a working relationship with local Realtors.I'd strongly recommend narrowing your list down to 1-2 Investor-friendly Realtors who understand your long-term plan. 

Find a rental in a desirable neighborhood and air BnB it.  

It is correct that they are not desirable, but some of our priciest retail neighborhoods are Birmingham City schools, and people buy in there who are planning on either homeschooling or sending to a private/community school (my family included, we live in Glen Iris 35205, have 4 kids and homeschool). 

Most people I know who made a lot of money, including myself, really don't make a lot of money because we have deep desires to be rich.

... as if landlords don't have their own lives on the line, their own bills to pay, their own business to run, their own needs wants and desires which are no less legitimate than their tenant's?

Yes, use your current properties as leverage, though I understand the desire to hang onto something with a lot of equity for safekeeping.