It all depends on what your investors are looking for.Sounds like you haven't settled on what kind of purchase you want to make.

JaySo that depends what you want from these 4 properties.

Local economies depend on them and it’s a symbiotic relationship.  

@Charlie Lehoux It all depends on your investment criteria, goals/objectives, budget and holding period. 

Try to get HELOC  depend how he want to use  money.  

You need receipts if you are writing the checks to the suppliers, but not if you are “reimbursing” the contractor, you’ll 1099 him if required (dependent on his W-9).

This is also area dependent.

Depending on how good of a percentage you got in 2014, there may not be too much difference when you calculate in the new closing costs and the potentially higher interest. 

Of course, these are suggestions and opinions only - I am, in no way, form or fashion a real estate professional - just a fellow investor in Columbus. 

What I'm really curious about now though, is whether or not moving the properties into an LLC in this fashion would reduce my personal number of financed properties when applying for additional loans, mostly with respect to the fannie mae reserve requirements."