When it's time for retirement they then move into the vacation rental full time and convert it into their retirement residence. 

There has to be a solution for this until I can pass a 4 point inspection and secure a traditional policy.

Originally from Houston and very familiar with the far NW as a resident (less as a commercial investor).

I took one on my primary residence, paid no origination fees, and make no payments on it unless I use it, and only pay $70/yr maintenance fee, so if I never touch it over the life of the HELOC (10 years) I'm only out a total $700 in 10 years, which I think is reasonable for the access to the cash.

Given the size of the property you may consider providing discounted rent to a resident to handle some of the on-site management tasks that @Omar Khan and @Ivan Barratt mentioned.

We've been looking out of state a lot as the market here in Utah is crazy but haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet.I recently heard of someone who has been extremely successful in their real estate career who built a new primary residence every 2 years which came with certain tax benefits and profit in an appreciating market.So I thought maybe instead of finding a rental property to buy we could build a new primary residence and rent out our current home which has appreciated about 60% in the 5 years we've owned it.

I’m focusing right now on 2-4 multi units and doing THE BRRRR on my current residence.

I like to have control in most situations to ensure the right people are hired and the right solutions are implemented but I can see a benefit to asking the seller to deal with it. 

I currently reside in Bakersfield.

Thanks everyone I currently own a primary residence and do have about 10k I can invest to get started.