He just said "now I don't feel appreciated, let's settle those favors I did you before we proceed any further" and sent me an invoice for $2K for the lost materials + time with the break-ins.Overall, the job seems to be ~80% complete but with poor quality, and I will absolutely need to hire someone else to fix his mistakes.

I specialize in single family homes in middle class neighborhoods , working people providing a high quality product for tenants that stay for avg. 5-10 years.   

That is okay they are selling a product... except you're not comfortable with the deal so walk away and find something else.

you keep saying "high ROI returns" without any data to back it up. and I have a couple of 3 bedroom beach properties and I dont always get $190 a night. i mean, good for you, but it seems like you are coming on here trying to sell a product rather than just discussing it.

But if you just operate without a permit, the county does a poor job of coming after you.

The only way to avoid them is to put more money down or you need a lender that offers their own product. 

This is the best solution I've seen (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075K6PHJ9/ref=as_li_tl?

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

Location is very very important but sometimes poor location can be overcome by great management.

Elwin, in general, HELOCS are second lien position products.