Yes its a very bad idea.

Talk with other investors in your situation to get some ideas. 

City proper has been on 5 year bear market completely unrelated to anything political, the suburbs have been adding inventory since the summer but are still very low but any measure and have actually gotten tighter the last few month, while I am open to the idea these cuts could eventually have some effect on the market, about 20% of the dc area is federal employees, let’s say the federal government cut the work force 25% which would be huge, that’s 5% of the population, but a good number of those people are either two income households where one person works in the private and/or the person being laid can go get a similar job in the provide sector l, the percentage of households who would be forced to sell thier house over this is likely in very low single digits.

If not, go with your idea of putting the thermostat in a control room.

Instead of buying existing properties and rehabbing them, the idea is to partner with a builder who constructs new rental properties, then refinance and rent them out. 

About my ideas and general questions.

I've got about 7k in an emergency savings account.I am in the process of getting several mortgage pre-approvals to compare fees and get an idea of how much home I can realistically afford.I have yet to find a buyer's agent/investor to help me identify potential homes but will start on that shortly.Ideally, I would like to buy a single family home.

Property ManagementFor OOS, a property manager is a good idea, especially at first.

Do you know is it different today with the idea behind "subject to" purchasing in IL?  

My idea for wanting the HELOC is to have access to funds for future deals.