Also, the closing fees and points can be rolled into the loan, meaning you don't have to come out of pocket at all to close a deal. 

NCB will not do a HELOC on an investment property.First thing I would do, if you haven't already, is find out if your co-op has a max debt-to-income ratio and see if any refi or Heloc (if it's possible) pushes you past the max, or if your numbers have changed since you were last approved or with the purchase of your flips.

I'm in the same boat, and wanting to roll in rental income to count towards my DTI.

As @Mark Hughes mentioned, these properties are generally not in foreclosure, but the city may continue to fine them for code violations which could push them in that direction.  

Low rates for next x amount of years will push up inflation so in the future you will pay off your loans with ever cheaper money.

They should not push you off on some other "Trusted" partner.

Which option did you decide to roll with?

Maybe you could push for regs instead of a full out ban.

In summary, you are taking the net proceeds from one investment sale and rolling them into the next, bigger deal without touching any of those proceeds in the process, which then allows any taxes on gains to be deferred until you sell the new property.

He probably lives in the gray and I sort of do myself and I applaud people that think outside the box and push the limit....