A HELOC would be a good deposit source in that case.Not enough equity yet?

The PM uses Appfolio and when trying to set up the ACH transfer to deposit rents to a bank account in NY, Appfolio (which is based in CA) stated to my PM that they can not do ACH transfers to NY because of 'NY Banking Laws' but they didn't provide to her further information on that.Has this happened to anyone else whose PMs use Appfolio or other similar app to get deposits from Out of State to NY or any other state?

The person managing for them (not always a good, licensed property manager, but one that will do what the owner says) gets a new tenant in quickly that has first months rent and security deposit and some form of job.  

If the damages go further than the $150 can cover, than you can dip into the initial deposite to help cover yourself as well. 

The purchase price and date of purchase are agreed to, buyer pays a deposit + monthly rent + monthly rent premium.

So at the time that I'm authoring this post I'm still in the assignment contract even though there is not one currently active with the owner of the house.So my question is, at this point could I walk away from this deal and get my full deposit back?

LA City requires an escrow for every tenant relo including separate escrow instructions and proof of deposit of the required relo funds to proceed.

This way, if you can't find a buyer, you can say your "partner" who is imaginary of course, didn't approve this purchase and all you lose is (the $20) earnest money deposit you paid"...?

For example, the cost to move or the threat of losing their deposit is greater.

You have every right to start the process.Are you holding a security deposit ?