Quote from @Andrew Steffens: One thought is that listing your STR at the cusp of your busy season is not optimal.

Unless you are also holding a significant amount in total stock market index funds for example you are probably not optimizing your potential.

It provided a higher "optimized" rental range of $2,100-$2,200 to which I said "hmm, I wonder if people would be willing to pay that in this area to begin with?"

Alex also guided the setup with professional photography, optimized listing strategies, and pricing adjustments to maximize revenue.

Then use one of the alternate rent models to optimize income.  

if we all continually "optimized" we'd be constantly transacting. 

One way to really optimize a HELOC is to do what I didn't do.

Alex also guided the setup with professional photography, optimized listing strategies, and pricing adjustments to maximize revenue.

This particular clients timing was optimal as they were in contract prior to the Bill passing and closed last week.

Here is the problem that often arises with that; Many Real Estate agents are focused on selling you a house, not helping you back out of a deal, so they tend to give you a lot of optimism instead of sober reality.