If you are in the personal training business I'm sure you interact with a number of people on a daily/weekly/monthly basis and have some schedule flexibility...

I suspect that some of the loudest in that genre are not really that hardcore IRL  

My advise would be to try to work it out, re-define some time frames, but be flexible with those as some things, like permitting, weather, etc. really are out of a contractors control.  

I was interested in the heloc because of it's flexibility.

Your local/regional banks will be more flexible and will value your prior experience and the business you bring to the bank. 

Umpqua Bank is a great player for commercial and are pretty flexible (we did a portfolio loan spread over 5 properties with them last year.) 

If you plan for a quick exit, you may end up losing money.Be ready to have rough tenants and be flexible with screening conditions, low credit scores, etc.For your reference, we have a 600 sqft 1/1 rented at $700 and a 700 sqft 2/1 rented at $825.

You then make the decision to proceed or not.Show some flexibility in terms of closing date, etc.

And I'm pretty flexible with my work schedule so I won't plan a trip if you know you won't be around, even if its just to grab a meal or drink to talk real estate, I would love to pick your mind. 

Then look at getting another job that has some flexibility and you don't hate but still covers your bills.