Given that you plan to live in the South Carolina property for 2-3 years before turning it into a rental, I would lean towards using the HELOC for the down payment and getting a traditional mortgage. 

Understand the tax implications of divesting from the properties as well as taking on seller financing.

They typically do not add value to the house, so when the buyers are looking at comparables, none of them sit there and say...well every other house sold for $200,000, but my gosh this one has solar panels....let's pay $240,000 for this one.Maybe one day, maybe someplace, but NOT today in NJ I expect.Only way I would even look at solar panels is if it is for your forever house, and you have enough land to install them on the ground, not on the roof....so maybe if you have 1-5 acres or more. 

If you are a solid investor focused agent, I’d be game to discuss land development + ground up construction of a well designed building you'll be fine in Fort Lauderdale or anywhere in South Florida. you will probably need more liquidity than existing but the deals are much better. 

Where are you planning to invest next and why? 

There is some institutional interest there as well, just something to keep in mind from a competitive standpoint.

We sat down and talked about the pro's and con's of investing in RE from a tax perspective, and came up with a plan for how to handle taxes.

You cannot plan for IRS auditors.

The numbers do not work well with managers in 2024. 

Context: I live in COS but plan is to start flipping in Pueblo to build equity and experience.