They just get paid cash , no taxes taken out .

Quote from @Marc Zak: In the market where I live (San Diego), appreciation has been strong and many predict it will continue to appreciate in the long term.However, with current interest rates (6% at best) and property tax (2%), the annual cost burden is 8%.Am I correct in saying that appreciation has to be above 8% annually (plus whatever my maintenance and vacancy costs are) for me to make any money in this scenario if the property is cash flow neutral?

Current goal is focused on growing a portfolio and reinvesting cash flows.

It is a fantastic time to buy for equity, but it will be extremely tough to cash flow as rental prices are continuing to decline.

I can help run their existing numbers to get more of an idea of the Business's Financials and work with you on how a loan payment would affect cash flows. 

@Christian Rodriguez  Typically there aren't any restrictions on how you want to use your cash once the Heloc has closed. 

You likely only made a down payment of 3-20% ....but you still get to write it off on the full value across 27.5 years.So 400k/27.5 = 14,000 ish a year of a write off where during the year you didn't need to incur an actual expense, no cash outflow. 

Zero evictions and zero cash for keys.  

This will be negative cash flow if using sustained maintenance /cap ex.

If your goal is to have a cash flowing portfolio of rentals.