It seems to me like grey is the new beige and the current style trends are moving away from beige and opting for a blue/grey tone instead. 

You have to decide what "protection" you're seeking and what options you have for achieving it.

Of course I realize that this answer is different for everyone depending on your goals and what you hope to achieve so I'll give just a little bit of background as to where I'm at and where I'm hoping to go.

🧠Incredible photos can be created with a smartphone, a DSLR, and even a garbage can pinhole style (look up the German garbage can project).The tool, whether Airbnb or a camera, has different outcomes depending on the goal and skill of the user.This year we'll end up ~40% direct with only ~7% of revenue from Airbnb.

I know i need to just take ACTION, and I will do that because it's the only way I will achieve my dreams and goals in life. 

I really loved that her story embodied the idea that you should be stubborn about your goals and flexible about how you achieve them.

My goal is to achieve 3000 a month in real estate for my future and i would love to see if my following strategy sounds realistic or if it can be improved.

I wanted my overhead to be as low as possible.Overhead has a profound effect on the length of time it takes to achieve financial freedom with rentals!

I think it greatly depends on how much cashflow you are looking to achieve and what the HELOC amount is for. 

I agree with Andrew on this one - achieving all three of these is going to be a stretch unless you go conventional - most nontraditional lenders will need to compensate for the prepayment penalty by raising the rate or lowering leverage.