As long as you pay, you're fine. 

@Sami Gren call a new lender and see if they can match or beat your current rate, they might as interest rates have dropped recently, don't give yourself an artificial deadline to "keep your rate"  It takes as long as it takes to get the results and if they come back with contamination it can be very expensive to clean up.

Agreeing on a discounted rent amount as long as it's paid by a certain date is a great idea.I already have a lot of Section 8 tenants and tenants who are in steady employment but working on repairing their credit, leaving a bad situation, etc.

But like Pat said, they don't seem to last long as they end up getting a job by a contractor so you kind of always need to be looking for a handful to ensure someone is still available when you need one.

So as long as you have an exit strategy to pay off that HELOC after you acquire the property, it can be a valuable tool to have when you find that deal.  

As long as you're not over leveraged, and you're stress testing your model, there is no reason to wait and see.

My feelings is as long as you are 100% honest it shouldn’t hurt to try.

I would rather give up my profit for a month or 2, than lose tenants by them either just moving back in to relatives or deciding that they will take the hit of an eviction (they just put in an eviction moratorium in Atlanta) and ride it out as long as they can, which would give me no payment to cover my mortgages. 

As long as rates are anywhere near where they are today, I will never pay off my mortgages.

You can go as big as you want as long as you have the knowledge.