Some investors have found that working with the right team even in challenging markets can be a pleasant and profitable venture.  

Anybody have a nice profit and loss template set up on excel that lets you plug in your numbers each month? 

Referrals are by far the most efficient, economical and profitable way to do business.

Make sure the numbers so that if you put in 60k to 70k you're getting some sort of annual net profit so you aren't having to feed the investment. 

But if it was not for those bene's these would have been poor investments long term with very little exit profit by the time one would have to pay recapture and do fix up work.

However, vacancy means covering 100% of the expenses.Multifamily properties almost always generate higher cash flow due to multiple income streams, which also reduces the risk of vacancies.

The third, I think I will break even or small profit, but it will be on the longer end of the hold, like 7+ yrs overall.I have not had any additional capital calls.

What you would want to evaluate is the income generated from the income-producing property(s) to see if the income from your rentals would cover the cost of your new HELOC payment.

This is relevant for multiple reasons 1) appreciation is where the real wealth is generated in RE 2) real estate has tax advantages over cash flow 3) in CA property tax increase is capped.  

I want to use the profits from flipping in my home market to obtain and pay off properties in a better cash flowing, landlord friendly market.