You may find this a viable option with rates where they are, especially if your rental income continues to cover the mortgage.Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC): If your property qualifies, you could use a HELOC to access the equity without disturbing the current mortgage.

Surprised about the construction especially since the earthquakes are frequent and can be bad.  

Basically - I want a PM who keeps the property in good shape and occupied to get paid, and a PM who is either bad at maintaining properties and finding good tenants, or just really unlucky, to not get paid.- PM charges 8% of rent, which escalates to 10% if the property exceeds 95% occupancy with rent collection. - PM charges minimal fees.- PM is contractually obligated to perform annual maintenance/inspection to keep property in top shape. - PM provides a cash based accounting report every month, for every unit under management, that clearly labels all rent, all expenses, including management fees, and the net directly ties to the amount of money deposited into my bank account.- PM is a licensed handyman, or has them on staff, and takes care of most unit turn work at a reasonable rate. - PM has no breakup/termination fee- PM does not take project management fees, except on large or complicated CapEx projects exceeding $5,000. 

am working with them now and had the first policy (with Spinnaker) cancelled for nonpayment/late payment so we rewrote another policy (with Millenial) and having the same payment problem again but at least they are communicating that cancellation is coming. they want me to pay by credit card over the phone so the payment wont be late and cancelled again. but when i go to mycoverageinfo.com to check on status it shows its been paid.

Yes, that’s another credit union only asking for 10% down with no pmi.

I don't allow any infomercial-style sales pitches at our meetings (ok, it might not be that bad but I just imagine some events being like an informercial!)  

• Is this a better strategy than using your own name, capital and credit to start out?

The only other option I see is a short sale, if you don't need to purchase for a few years and don't mind a temporary credit hit to save the $60k.  

@Justin FondrenIf your credit score is in the 700–730 range, you're in a great position to secure favorable loan terms.

Most will be negative because they have had bad experiences with it.