I see he touts this particular arm of his company quite a bit lately, offering preferred returns during the "hold" phase and returns on invested capital on the exit side with multi family acquisitions.  

I wouldn't let them strong arm me if they don't have legitimate complaints. 

My minimum safety net would be 1 year of living expenses in cash in reserve . 

I’m concerned that it’s a fire or safety issue? 

Generally is going to be OK the only issue is that it can be challenging to confirm the transaction is truly arms-length on an off-market deal and I believe all DSCR Lenders do require Arms-Length transactions. 

The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to get a rock solid lease and good insurance and make sure you keep your property maintained and provide all the safety equipment required by law.I only own one property atm and I don't even own the house I live in so I don't think the risk is worth the cost but once I get a few more properties I will definately get an LLC for my properties.

So, they would refinance your current mortgage and then provide the 95% LTV HELOC.In my situation with the option they gave me it doesn't seem to be far off from my current mortgage, I'm currently with rocket mortgage w/ a 2.8% ARM and to refi with Lower (in order to get access to the HELOC) the new interest rate would be 4.1.

In Mass you can avoid sprinklers by using 2015 IEBC chapter 14, a quick fire safety analysis of the building and exits. 

in Mass you can avoid sprinklers by using IEBC chapter 14, a fire safety analysis of the building. 

I've never feared for my safety though.