I used to cold call them, but the results were horrible, so I don't do that anymore. 

Bottom line is I'm trying to see if this is a horrible idea, or perhaps I'm overthinking things.

These are horrible “inspections”.

I don't know if they are in horrible areas or not as I don't know the area.

On the topic of cash outs - it's a horrible time to do one.  

This title company has been horrible when it comes to communication, but their last update to me was basically that they still haven't found (or had a reply from) the ground rent owner.

Take a deep breath, and start chipping away at that HELOC balance right away.Borrowing from your 401k is a horrible option, especially with how badly stocks have been beaten up this year.

@Phyo Ko There's really no reason to panic, when you are putting low money down and you can get around to breakeven-ish on your PITI it is not as horrible as many others may make it seem, San Diego is a different market than many others and they can't be treated the same.  

I am about a year and a half out from my goal and feel like having cash sitting in a savings account is a horrible way of letting my money do its work.

I have seen a few in my area and they basically renovate properties in horrible neighborhoods and market them as turnkey to out of state investors who don't want to come to the property by telling them some lies about how they can just sit back and collect a check.