I have about 10k at my disposal and am trying to get my first investment property under my belt. 

But you have to qualify for Medicaid, and they look at all assets, including any disposed of in the five years before the qualification. 

My opinion is that we should get as much as possible so that we can pursue a wider range of possibilities, and so that we don’t come up short on any potential deals that we may want to pursue.The difference in the in interest rate between the 80% option and 90% option is a quarter of a percent, which does not appear to be a pro-forma breaker, especially since we are using the HELOC as a bridge loan until we can complete the rehab and seasoning before refinancing into a conventional 30 year loan.Other than the difference in percentage on the HELOC, can anyone think of reasons why a disciplined investor would not want to have a larger line of credit at their disposal?

Welcome aboard @Clark ScrogginSounds like you have some great resources at your disposal.

I have a client looking at a 12 unit apartment building, 12 stoves, 12 fridges, 12 dishwashers, 2 large water heaters, 12 garbage disposals.

If so, I would ask them to either remove everything or to sign a release authorizing you to remove / dispose of it as you see fit.

Our jobs provide some extra disposable income that we would like to apply toward investing in real estate.

I avoid Garbage disposals. 

You could at least buy yourself some time to figure out if it's worth buying once you get your things in order and have traditional financing at your disposal.

Further, tracking down npn in bulk, analyzing thousands, buying packages, reselling some, working on getting the remaining reperforming and foreclosing and then disposing of the rest is far different than analyzing two or three performing notes offered by a note broker and purchasing one or two and collecting monthly payments until they are paid off.