My wife just fired her property management because the owner has been playing games about charging her repairs on her house without giving her the price before the works and deducted 3 months of the rents plus she also have to pay over $7,000 in addition to  the works which only partially done and ignored even after several complaints.

What do they play to use the HELOC for?

Since the HELOC is a short-term play, I was thinking of keeping it on the variable rate, and keep close watch of the prime rate & the Federal Funds Rate to have an idea if the interest rate is set to increase. 

And because $462 is well below the best practices for contingency savings, you should expect to fund emergency expenditures out of your own pocket if they arise early on.This is where a thorough inspection comes into play.

In the last few years we flipped a few houses (major renos) but not EVERYTHING is overpriced and any play is based on future price speculations.

So, i have about 270k to play  with (keeping the mandatory 30% in). 

Or should I call it good and play it safer?

How much risk you are willing to take, and age of your kids will play a large part in your strategy.

One way to think of a transaction broker's responsibility is they are supposed to be impartial, like a referee, while as a buyer's agent we can play on your team. 

Are you selling why it's a great place to live, work, and play - versus just giving the count down on beds/baths/sq footage?