The most important rule is to have the cash flow of the new property be able to pay all its expenses, mortgage, AND the line of credit back.

Option 3: Pay large down-payment on modest rent ready house. 

Separate issue is only 13% of CA homeowners pay for earthquake insurance because it's so expensive and the deductible can be really high.What are your re-building costs in your area?

You want an investment that pays for itself, including mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, and even some money set aside for a reserve to cover vacancies and capital expenditures.

I am the type of person that is normally looking to save a money to increase my investing so the thought of paying someone to do my taxes when we could do them ourselves didn't make sense. 

A friend of mine from abroad plans to buy a property in CO or FL with a budget of $10 million, but she plans to use Bitcoin to pay for the house.

Yes, the government pays the Section 8 rent timely, but more and more tenants are having to pay a portion of their rent.

It's properly leveraging (not over leveraging) the asset that pays off.  

He tells you to pay him $5,000 (or much more) to learn all the "secrets" that made him wealth, but then he doesn't tell you that his "secret" was to increase earnings, reduce expenses, save up and invest.

Then invest the $10k in something that pays more than the interest you’re paying on the HELOC.