I had made an oral offer on a house before Covid, it was a junky old house, but I knew I could get it cash flowing. 

That may be a part of it but doesn't include placing tenants or all the repair cost increases.

The challenge is finding a property with a good value add that will allow you to extract much or all of your investment in less than a year. 

If you lose any or all of your deposit (EMD), would the lender cover that?   

For instance, inadequate/improperly designed water diversion systems can cause major problems (e.g.; rot, masonry degradation, foundation settling) that won't emerge for several years.

From reading the complaints, plaintiffs allege that Clayton made oral/express contracts and presented marketing materials that promised his company would rehab the properties as included in the sale price but the properties were never rehabbed.

I personally have had decent luck renting to Section 8 tenants and am also in OH, and Section 8 pays some or all of the rent depending on the tenant.

If it's just a tenant that is driving it up and it's not due to landscaping, home system inefficiency or leaks, I highly recommend you (to some or all degree) put it on the tenant to pay the bill.

Do you have to basically accept at this point that portions or all of the money you make on that sale goes to pay off the heloc?

So then instead of maybe losing a few hundred a month and paying someone else $1,000+- in rent, now you live in the property you own and someone else is paying most or all your mortgage AND you don’t have to pay someone else rent!