I have lived in Truckee for over 23 years and understand the pain you can go through dealing with a local government where the answer you received on Monday is different than the answer you receive on Tues, Wed, Thur & maybe even Friday if anyone is working.

Cold calling, mailers, signs, google/Facebook, RE meetups, RE agents are all ways a whole sales would find deals

This means you need to pad your rehab costs, make sure you have trusted service providers that do great work, and when you run comps be sure to bring them down a bit and see if the deal still makes sense. 

But, there are still deals that can make sense depending on your budget. 

Could be the best money you spend on the deal!

What is the best way to find plumbers and handymen who work for themselves and would run over to deal with things, and perhaps have a key that they can use to get in if the tenant is not there?

You reference taking out a HELOC and those are generally provided when the property is in your personal name, which I don't recommend for investment properties.Overall, it sounds as if you're tired of dealing with "long distance" ownership.

How did the deal turn out? 

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

You could theoretically structure a deal where you are cash flowing negative, but have an overall positive ROI.