We current have about $500k in equity (down payment and loan pay down).

Recap: Tenant didn't pay rent for a few months, and we ended up in court, agreeing to a 12 month arrears payment (per courts).Today tenant received a DCA EPP Payment for 6 months into the future (May->Oct).

Tax Benefits - Can deduct most of my mortgage interest while building wealth.4.

just be cautious when it comes to using these. ensure you've got a plan to pay that balance back in a relatively quick fashion as most HELOC rates can fluctuate which could make the numbers suddenly not work. i've leveraged mine in instances where i'm doing a BRRR and i want the deposit for a private money loan. i'm not using it as my downpayment and leaving it out there for a long period of time. 

Who pays for that increase cost?

They owe me $1300, and I feel like they are trying to get by and just leave without paying me the rent that they owe.

If your goal is something longer term or diversification based, maybe treat the down payment like a CD with a big potential bonus that'll pay out when you refi when rates drop, or 1031 exchange into something bigger in 10 years. 

Not only do you have to pay lawyers but you also have to pay an economist to write a report, pay the licensor and the list goes on.

I just got one last month that had been on the market for awhile and after moving out it's around 13% when estimating 10% Vacancy and 10% management fee, both of which I won't be paying on for a bit. 

I don't want to say too much on public forum but, MN is high income state, which makes for some of highest median incomes in US, which makes for some of the highest paying sec8 in country.....