Our city holds a lot of hidden gems.

Play the long game and hold onto that equity. 

I purchased my first buy and hold SF rental property last year and turned the property into a student rental as it was very close to a local College.

Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Use the HELOC on cash-generating opportunities like flips, then use the cash generated to buy long-term buy and hold investments. 

So let me see if I can contribute anything that might help you....First, I would ask yourself if you want to hold a rental property in Seattle...? 

As a Ny'er We chose to invest completely OOS as Ny landlord tenant laws are not the best if you are considering holding long term. 

With that said, the income can still offset the cost of holding the property as a long-term investment.

If you don't want to separately meter for gas (which would be expensive but you would recoup the cost many times on a long hold), you are going to constantly be feeding this alligator of tenants wasting your money with liberal use of heat. 

You get to hold the properties though.