HELOC VS Construction Loan

[Adoni Conze]

Hey BP community, new investor looking for a bit of information. Thanks in advance for any insight provided. 
I've recently started managing some family properties located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (I posted a similar thread within that location specific forum but I wanted to open up the discussion to others). One isn't cashflowing at all due to needing repairs and one is performing under market value due to mismanagement. My original plan was to HELOC the house which had higher equity to complete the repairs needed to increase cashflow. The issue which I've run into is the appraisal won't come in as high as expected due to work needed and since the LTV on an investment property is already pretty low I won't accessing the equity expected.
I'm thinking though, if I can acquire a construction loan through HML then I'd be able to pay for repairs needed and then HELOC the house at a higher value.

Just wondering if that workflow makes any sense. Thanks again for any help and if anything was unclear I’d be happy to provide some more info. 

[Eric Greenberg]

Hi Adoni,

Does ‘doesn’t cash flow’ mean it’s not being rented because it’s not in rentable condition?

Could you provide some rough numbers for us as far as how much the properties are worth now, how much after rehab, equity in each property and how much rehab is needed. That may let folks give better insight into the best path. 

Personally taking out hard money for an out of state rehab with hope to take a HELOC out to pay off that HML doesn't seem like a great play. Maybe a cash out refi but having numbers would help give some guidance.