I'm curious to hear from investors who are choosing to build a financial moat instead of leveraging as much as possible.

Besides HELOC you can try doing a cash out refi.

Since it is my first property, is it best to just do it from my personal or is it best to form an LLC prior? 

Get counsel, and do not waste time trying to work it out with the tenant (which it sounds like you aren't, so good on you).

We would purchase something that needs love, renovate it, then finance it, and then rent it out - most likely co-living / rent by the room model. 

Been doing it for almost 20 years now. 

Now wanting to do it for myself?

I am ready to do it for real!

If you do ultimately decide to sell, you'll want to hold it long enough that you can do a 1031 exchange, which would allow you to defer all of the tax and depreciation recapture and reinvest it into another investment property/properties.

Is it located in Columbia?