Eroding ALL of their marginal income after housing costs, all for the sake of being told to "get in now." 

Margins How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Most of them quit after a while because (a) they cannot find buyers, (b) they cannot find properties or (c) they cannot find the right margins."

Hi Maria,When flipping properties, cutting costs on materials can significantly boost your profit margins, however, you always want to maintain a minimum quality so my first advise on how to spend less is to plan the rehab in a way that optimizes the value return you're getting.

@Sam Boateng- what are the indexes and margins that these 2 HELOC lenders are using ? 

HELOCs are based off Prime + a margin.

Of course, these property tax rates are priced into gross rents, but my experience is that NOI margins on rentals here are higher than in surrounding states.

The issue with this is that most deals cap rates right now are below the interest rate so lots of deals have very skinny margins (if investing for cashflow) where a higher rate erases that skinny margin.

The last couple months it feels like there is a lot thinner margin for error with flipping.

Just because some people have popularized an unethical, dangerous and marginally legal/illegal approach to using a certain strategy does NOT make that strategy itself unethical, dangerous or illegal when used correctly.