Well the consensus is clear - I should definitely take the cash and invest in more properties!

You would essentially, after 30 years, have a much nicer property paid off free and clear going this route as well if the plan is to let the tenants pay it off. 

Or if you ever want to cut back on buying, you can sit a project or two out while the others take it on and then jump back in with them on the next one.

On the 2nd part, my building like most building's in that specific CT area is like cutting a house in 4 equal Parts, they are like 100 yr old big houses that have been turned into multi-families. 

Our goal is to rent the back unit out for a couple years cutting our mortgage payment in half or so while we stockpile cash for our next deal. 

It has been explained to me that this ultimately is an insurance issue that provides a clear path for settlement for the person harmed. 

We have a property in Memphis that is generating $7,000 dollars a year in net cash-flow (property is 100k).We want to buy another 3 properties free and clear BEFORE we refinance them, to group them together and LLC them.However, we want to know IF we can get a HELOC loan first from this property (or others in the future) BEFORE asking to refinance them?

If so, you can bill back water/sewer consumption (increasing the NOI and cutting one of your largest expenses)  but you'll want to see if that's common practice with your competition and ensure rents line up as well.

The bank will never improve the property beyond winterizing and maybe cutting the grass if there are fines for violating ordinances, but no way they would renovate like that.

If we're talking about a land allocation or a donated amount then it's important to clarify which one and make it very very clear it is an update to the information.