The question was - which should someone put money into - this is an unanswerable question because each person's situation is so different and these two products are, as others have said, comparing apples and oranges.  

Going to those places will help you stay in your budget and cash flow better too - with property management built in.The hard part with the smaller towns is that they don't always have the big property management setups so thats where you'd have to do some leg work to find ones that do.And you might be able to do bigger str towns or even cities in that price range. 

There is a really good one at the Boathouse in West Orange the first Wednesday of every month, check it out on Meetup.com

With your design experience you definitely have a leg up to flip, but the Asheville market is pretty steamy hot.

I’m from the Orange County, NY area.  

I am in Orange County CAAny thoughts?

I built half a dozen new builds around Orlando suburbs I know its apples to oranges with apartments but my brand new 3 and 2s rent for 1700 to 1800. 

It's Like comparing apples to oranges.

A HELOC and a Home Equity Loan are the same thing.I have an excellent residential mortgage broker who can help you with this, he's based in Orange County. 

You are trying to compare oranges and potatoes, this is not appropriate here.