Get your foot in the door and aim for a break even (if it means you can get started). 

Does anyone have any good options that are safe and won't break the bank?

I wouldn't buy an investment property that I was just breaking even on.  

Currently I had borrowed 12.5k to consolidate credit card debt and I can borrow up to 23k. 2) Would it be wise to roll this into my home mortgage so I can get the tax break for the interest and allow for more borrowing power from a credit union?

STR have become I'll buy a place and hope it rents to a lot of people using em for just tax breaks.

However, with either if there are no breaks, the line is fine.

Plus if you bought with all cash from the proceeds of the sale you would be trading down in asset value quite a bit.Depending on the refi rate you could consider keeping this and refinancing it to pull some cash out which you could use as a down payment on another property.Just some thoughts, hope they help the issue with the refi is those rates at the new loan if i do a 75% LTV will almost overcome the cash flow its producing now and basically get to a break even point.

In the spirit of order of operations, might be helpful to break down in this fashion: 1) With your 401(k), do you have pre-tax money and post-tax Roth funds?

I hit 2 years at this home and tried crunching some numbers to see how much I would need to sell my current home for to break even with escrow/interest/reno costs.

You also have two major holidays coming in the US (Thanksgiving and Christmas and construction will slow down as people take time off).