Having owned property in rockford its not a great appreciation area so getting a HELOC will probably take 5-10 years based on loan pay down and maybe some slight appreciation.

As we all know, you are really paying for the commission in the purchase price. 

Then she still only makes 2% extra for taking the risk of you not paying versus a bank.

If you truly are limited on time or can't make investing a priority, you should look for smaller projects as others have recommended.1) General Contractors are available to run your project, but most are too expensive to make ROI work on smaller projects. 2) A great PMC can act as a Project Coordinator for rehabs, but many won't be transparent about the costs, so you know what you are paying for.

If you’re paying market value and they just have zero equity I guess you could argue you’re just giving them two years to move out.

You then will pay some long term capital gains, but you also have to take depreciation recapture. 

If you do find a PMC willing to do this, expect to pay quite a bit more for all the extra hassles!

and are you looking to walk away with cash or simply refinance (meaning paying off) what you owe? 

In addition, you would need enough working capital to pay for insurance (which will be going up a LOT in Los Angeles) and to pay for property taxes.Don't buy this unless you have substantial resources and a cash cushion to keep yourself safe.

buy house  find renter rent house maintain house pray they pay rent and dont destroy it.