Climate - Properties in areas with hard freezes and excessive moisture will tend to require more maintenance than in milder and dryer climates.Age of properties - The older the property, the more maintenance it will require, unless all the major systems and components have been updated recently.Property cost - There is a tendency for new investors to choose locations with very inexpensive properties.

I am not going allow a guest to run up a huge electric bill or damage the A/C unit by freezing it up.

That way if a pipe does freeze it won't leak a lot of water. 

I wouldn't totally take foreclosures off the list during the winter, but I would def be hesitant about them due to pipes freezing etc.

Since blower motor failures like these most often happen here in the dead of winter when the blower is working overtime to push heat through the house, you will often get the SAFETY HAZARD lecture as the property is quickly moving toward freezing temperatures.

Basically they freeze your account. 

And not freezing my naughty bits off all winter if I don’t want to.Most people say ”replace my income”, screw that, I deserve a raise.

The one cautionary issue with a heloc is that in any kind of a currency or credit crunch the bank can freeze access to your heloc. 

It's the build up of fear coming from the unknown inside a person's head that causes them to freeze and not take any action at all. 

File a dispute with the credit bureaus and freeze your credit until you get this resolved.