But there are other factors of a personal nature that will dictate when people want to use leverage or not.

As a private money lender, I'm curious to hear what makes an ideal lending relationship for you and how I can better support investors looking for flexible and fast funding solutions.

Additionally it would be more difficult to get approved for the the full second position HELOC since you would need to factor in the HELOC and mortgage payment into the DTI even though you would only owe 47K on the mortgage.  

The city approved rental license inspector essentially just tested to make sure there was access to hot water, access to heat, no unsafe conditions like exposed electric wiring, CO/smoke detectors present/functional, fire extinguishers present/not expired, etc.

It appears you are focused solely on the financial components of the project without understanding the insurance and liability factors of self-performing the project in the manner in which you propose.

@Ashish Acharya Thank you so much for your feedback, I completely agree and have included seasonal trends and will look into economic factors including rental demand drivers.

Are they doing everything possible to expose properties to the broadest possible market?

If you go into a different market and the laws change, you are stuck with a lease with someone who may not want to cancel it (not to say you couldn't have a clause in there).The main problem I have with this strategy is you are missing out some of the key wealth building factors that come with real estate.

There are lenders that will finance newbies, even at 100% of the purchase & rehab, but if the numbers do not make sense, the chances of that deal getting to the table are thin (especially if the lender wants to help borrowers succeed, not help them fail).The lender's underwriter looks at every deal, but especially the lesser experienced operator's deal to determine what is exposed vs what is the return.

I think that would play a big factor in how I would respond.