I’ve made 6 figures consistently the past few years but I’ve spent most of it on high rent, leisure & travel to be honest so only have about 40k liquid for a conventional downpayment on a 200k property.

Once we achieve financial independence, I would love to travel the world, work as a freelancer if needed and spend time with family and work on my hobbies.

And let's face it: no one is saying "let's travel to DFW for a nice vacation".

I get to travel for work, and really enjoy my job.

You can learn a ton about a market prior to traveling to that market, and the travel should be to either confirm or disprove what you already know based on your research, as well as to build relationships in that market. 

Lot's of visitors for skiing as well as folks traveling to Temple Square. https://www.sltrib.com/news/20... 

We choose to use our HELOCs as short term financing or credit reserves for quick usage and partner with hard money or private lenders for the majority of the financing up front.

That cost could be baked into the rent, but without any incentive for the tenants to moderate their electric usage, it could be a costly situation for the owner.I would recommend looking into costs to have it metered properly first and if that is not effective, have a set amount built in to the lease that the tenant will pay each month. 

I’m looking for advise on the best credit cards with either cash or travel rewards.

I owner occupy one side and am working on some BRRRR type of improvements.However, I sometimes have to travel for work.