Then your investments start compounding and it’s easy to scale from there by trading up with 1031 exchange and refinancing.People will spend $100/month and wait there entire life trying to win $1M on scratch off tickets to retire broke, but if they would make the sacrifices above for 2-3 years they have the fortune.  

I am sure you realize that it needs to be paid back in a short amount of time (usually 10 years from the day you secured the HELOC) with compounding interest.

Insurance is a great first line of defense as many have mentioned.In terms of transferring property to an LLC you can look into using a land trust.

However, it definitely allows you to build wealth faster as tax sheltered money can compound with impressive speed. 

Stagnant economy compounded by inflation.Resorts and vacation properties are going to take a hit in a stagnant economy.

Well, I think the better a case you can build on the beyond normal wear-n-tear items (like price and photos), the better.However, if it has a 15 year carpet and he lived there years 13-15, I wouldn't expect replacement to be a defensible expenses, but I guess you can try and collect it.

My vote would be to let the tenants pay down your loan and use the cash flow to buy OTHER properties, compounding is a beautiful thing at scale.

If they are good deals you will compound your cash flow by using that capital on multiple properties.

According to my rudimentary math, I would need to earn about 21%  compounded annually, to gain the same dollars by keeping.

Interest is not compounded.