As the balance gets a little lower, I will then use the HELOC funds to aggressively start paying off mortgages on SFH rentals since my goal is to have those rentals debt free.

Your agent may be able to access them. 

Luxury Vinyl Plank FlooringMy living room is above the lower unit in my duplex so I was considering a plank with an underlayment for sounds dampening for the living room, but if that increased thickness will handle the unevenness worse then I may look at other options.

The only reason to refinance would be a lender offering you a much lower interest rate.

@Anthony Marucci Bethlehem is, generally a lower priced area, so I would look into buying a small multi unit and living in one.

The higher the deductible the lower your overall Premium but get quotes on all the deductibles you are interested in.

We are on the top floor and have our own meter while the tenants on the lower two floors share one.

The problem was that after I made that down payment of about $45,000, I had very little money to keep expanding.I had to use multiple lower money techniques in order to grow over the years including:-401K loan for down payments on three properties-FHA owner occupied 4 plex with 3.5% down-Conventional mortgages with 5% down on 2 single family homes that I owner occupied and later turn into rentals-BRRRR method on one home to get all my cash back and buy another propertyThe next thing I'm doing is either refinancing or selling a property in order to get way more units.

The poor purchase decisions he was citing were largely OOS purchasers that did not fully vet the neighborhood and was purchasing in lower class neighborhoods. 

Maybe other lenders will go lower?