After 20 years in real estate (before DSCR loans were even around), here’s my take: Tampa and Central Florida are gold mines if you play it smart.

You can only play games for so long.Chances are your next door neighbor is an IRS agent and turns you in when your tenants blocks their drive or some other random event disturbing your IRS neighbor.ADU catches fire and your insurance won't cover you, because it was an illegal and unpermitted structure.The city inspector told the last guy not to build or rent it, and is now pissed and wants to make an example of you and just red tags the whole property and no one can occupy for the next 1-2-3 years while you wait for a hearing.Then when you get the hearing, "staff" recommends you tear the whole structure down, and if you still want an ADU, you can apply for a permit and rebuild it.Your tenant quits paying rent and won't move out and you can't evict them, because there is no valid lease and they're just your "roommate".Probably a dozen other bad things can happen to you when you do stuff like this. 

HELOCs are much tricker than a closed end second - they don't typically allow you to close in an LLC and they are full doc qualification, meaning your FICO, employment history, income, DTI etc all come into play.

I seem to remember that I didn't even have a business card until then either.You are VERY late to the game to be making these decisions. 

So if I am looking at an asset as a 10 year play - I look more at the location, schools and how has this market performed in the past excluding covid and 2008 which were extenuating circumstances.Reality is right now shorter term plays do not work based on numbers and cost of financing - we went through this same thing in 2001-2004ish timeframe where properties would appreciate 2-3% per year and after buying costs and closing costs - you were not making money on assets unless you performed the labor or found a really good deal.this is how real estate "typically" is - which is why everyone always says location location location - because after a decent holding period, you will win.

@Justin Jefferson first, some cold realty - you're about as likely to play in the NFL as you are to retire via real estate in 4 years.Are they both possible?

@Cynthia Lee Depends on your jurisdiction, your relationship with the tenants, and your end game plan.

Since COVID, the demand for cash actually increased, so this is a recession resistant play.

I want to play devils advocate, to have a convincing argument.

For me, I’ve been testing a few different methods recently, but I’m always looking for new ideas to take my wholesaling game to the next level.