Personally, my first real estate purchase was in California because I bet on appreciation. 

Here are some favorites "How to Win friends and Influence People" - Communications and getting along with people"The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan - The best book on time management"Atomic Habits" - personal productivity"Ego is the Enemy" How to have great self esteem by not caring what others think.

I don’t know what percent of commercial places have stoves but I bet it’s small. 

So you are betting on appreciation which goes against one of the laws of surviving any real estate market.  

As for the refi, I don't see any upside there, simply because you will have about 45 days for loan to close, and that could kill any potential offers, on top of not being able to show proof of funds, if you are offering cash.The HELOC to me seems like your best bet, but again you are committed to not buying anything for the 30-45 days between you pay off and getting the refi closed. 

Thought: if a tenant was able to have the requirements to get into a rental right now, I am betting they are pretty stable.

You may need to create an independent account that I would bet isn't free. 

I was having problems mitigating a roach problem in adjacent unit, and the reason i finally realized her less than desirable living habits were creating a roach breeding mega heaven, and incidentally discovered the above mentioned stuff...any small crack or hole in by an electrical outlet plate, had the most vile and gross path of roach feces, full on super highway paths of roach feces into any possible wall void.YUCK!!!

Now, regarding real estate - I’m well aware that House Hacking is probably a safe bet right now.

Your best bet right now is to go by the books and wait It out.