Good Morning BP,It seems a lot of Northern VA / Washington DC newer investors (and some experienced investors) are having trouble with pin pointing which strategy to attack.  

They just attack.

Even if these deals don't work out, going through this process will make you even more ready to attack the next opportunity you find! 

I wish that I would have figured this out when I was 25......I was personally signing / guaranteeing all types of crap, from angry contractors to water bill collections, to tenant rights lawsuits, all which were trying to attack my social.Warm Regards, G

Best plan of attack is to follow many of the suggestions above from fellow members.  

Once I attended a meeting and Keston and I started to chat, we quickly realized that we had similar goals and a mindset to attack those goals.

Given the conservative nature of your position, why not make cash offers on the houses you want, using the HELOC, moving tenants into the home, attacking the HELOC with the exceptional cashflow of a paid-off property and refinancing in 6 months to a traditional note?

Luckily, we had a back up property management company that has been absolutely incredible.To top it off, working in the swimming pool industry, we were absolutely swamped, so much so that I almost had a heart attack on 2 separate occasions because of the amount of stress.I had elected to focus on work until things slowed down.

Nice of you to give an old bald guy a heart attack!

Also, as part of your lease addendum, make sure you consult a lawyer and that it asks questions about the pet (if it's ever attacked or bitten anyone, if it has issues with children, etc).