It is also foolish to attempt to encumber (protect) your primary residence through the use of an artificial HELOC for equity-stripping.  

If you're making positive cash flow my recommendation is to keep it and lend out your equity (through HELOC).  

My thought is that once the basement is built out, the property could be re-appraised and I could then move my debt to a low-interest HELOC.

@Jeremy Slater your relative pulled equity from the house (a HELOC i assume...) prior to selling the property to you; which you financed through a traditional lender on a 20 yr. note?

If you got a blanket HELOC on the 4 paid-off rentals, how much cash would you be able to pull out?

Or if we should take out a HELOC on our primary residence and use that HELOC for down payment on investment property?

My wife wants to get a HELOC on our primary residence and use it to pay off the $90K hard money loan on the new rental.

Especially if you can live there and even rent a couple rooms while you are still renovating ... that means you aren't holding up revenue because of waiting for the renovations to be finished - this allows you to take your time, etc. etc.If you can throw a little more money at it sooner and get it all done faster, you can use a HELOC to pull that money back out once the work is done, based on assuming that the property value will have increased because of the work you did.I love the Homestyle loan (which I think is better than the FHA 203K option), but only if you need it.  

Or are you talking about the interest deduction on a HELOC?

I have a Condo in Reno, NV owned free and clear worth about $53k (Zillow estimate) that I've had before I met my fiancee and it is in the name of my trust.My debt to income ratio is too high to qualify for the HELOC alone (all I have is the one mortgage).