If we had continued to move into homes and then turned them into rentals, we could have had better financing and could have sped up our portfolio growth.

Outside the likely once in a life time subprime loan crash real estate has had steady growth over the last 30 years with a very slight reduction in 1991. 

Let’s connect and help grow the community.

Refi is preferable if the money being accessed is for longterm purposes (ie buy/hold) and you plan to purchase another investment soon whereas a Heloc is preferable for short-term use (flip, rehab, etc.) and/or you want the ability to pull the trigger in the perhaps distant future if/when a deal presents itself.

My goal is to be able to do comps primarily but the ability to find cash buyers is also great. 

In general, markets experiencing high growth are much better bets than those displaying the opposite, and many metro areas possess their own special form of luster.

That's just one example of how the technical aspects mesh with government aspects.Even marketing, being able to sell lots, is useful as is being able to get along with others and assess their abilities and motivate them to be part of your team either as employees, vendors, financial supporters, etc., all come into play. 

I would never voluntarily supplement any tenants rent given the legal ability to charge full market rent immediatly.

If we feel the tenant is trouble, repeat late payer or lost ability to pay, then we serve notice to pay or vacate.

If your plan is to hold the property forever that is great, but maybe the correct move is to sell the property and roll those gains into a property that would generate more revenue and growth potential.