Then I would do a low risk flip ( rehab less than a few weeks) for hopefully a 10-15% profit, repeat until I have a nice down payment and am sure that I would be able to qualify for a refinance, then buy a buy and hold then continue flipping until I get to the next buy and hold - in theory, the time between each property should decrease as I should be getting capital from the buy + hold as well as I would already have my reserves built up.

Getting a pro account at HD or Lowes might be a solution. 

Low out of pocket cost. 

But guess what, rates WILL drop in the next few months/years and most markets will explode after that IMO.If I had 25K I would look into B or B+ (specifically with schools above 5 greatschools rating, and moderate to low crime rate confirmed by heat map and frequenting businesses there) areas within 25 minutes driving distance from my home for a SFH. 

The instruments needed for the transaction will be state specific which means you should have someone from California chime in with resources who can provide low cost documents (as these will be boiler plate).

Quote from @Tyler Garza: Deal :Duplex Home2 beds / unit2 baths / unit3,000 sqftAsking 300k60k downEst rent/yr - 31,2005% Vacancy20% Op ExpenseMortgage 240k assuming 7%Results: CF - 6,600Cocr - 11%Cap - 8%Looking at this for a buy and hold and trying to determine if I am analyzing this right@Tyler Garza I can get to your COC of 11% and cap rate of 8%, but since I don't know your loan payment or amort, I'm not sure how you got to CF of $6,600 - I'm getting arond $4,600.And a couple of things jump out at me with your assumptions versus most of my CFO clients: 1) a 5% vacancy rate and 20% Op exp margin seem a little low, 2) an LTV of 80% LTV (with a 7% interest rate) seems high unless you're house hacking, 3) Depending on the location of the property, the $1,300/month/unit rent may be low.

My thought is to use a HELOC for the down payment on a new property (20% down), then once I acquire it, do a cash-out refinance to pay off the HELOC while keeping my original low rate intact.

This is pretty clean.Scenario 2:  Your partner has owned the house for 15 years and has been taking accelerated depreciation, so the book value of the house is very low. 

You can go as low as 10% down and there are programs that allows this for first timers with good credit.3.

There are a couple opportunities thats on MLS currently, and I am crunching through my math and it seems to work out well (positive cash flow, decent cap rate).Some key assumptions I hope still holds true today:  low vacancy rate in general. ~1000-1200/month for a room in a single family house / duplex.