For the immediate time, I'd love any contractors and handymen suggestions, but eventually, to work with agents to buy and sell in the area. 

Convert them into income machines!

If he uses the HELOC responsibly, he'll be able to serially buy performing hard assets and eventually get to the point where the monthly cash flow will provide future down payments.6.

query=garage#sear...If you can rent a 2 garage at $450 without spending ~$150k for a garage ADU conversion, no work/risk of the ADU conversion, the lower maintenance/capex, easier eviction, no rent control, less tenant interaction, it will not convert your SFR to rent control, etc, it seems superior to the garage ADU conversion.  

I own multiple SFHs as rental property.  I purchased a 4k sqft investment home that is built perfectly for a multi home layout with some renovation.Must i have the home rezoned?  Or can i have 2 different power meters...

MF with many garages to convert to ADUs, parcel splits, full on development, coop/tic with the resources to handle financing challenges, etc.To raise money in this market as a newby will also be challenging unless you can get it from friends and family.

You can try and fight it but does not mean you will be successfulI would also be curious to see what your property insurance looks likeFor me this is just another example that home prices are gonna eventually have to soften as between taxes, insurance and Interest rates home affordability is very challenging

Is there a better way to structure this deal besides proportionally splitting the profit from refinancing (and/or eventually selling) and the rent (which we'd be paying)?

It's all fun and games until your bank freezes and converts your line for any number of reasons that are in the loan agreement.

You can eventually refinance all or most of your funds if not done correctly.