Also Seller hasn’t paid property taxes in 2 years which is a sign the property is in distress.

u can see these homes on my website. also if there is any way to manage it.. if you can figure out how to get paid as a WA resident you will enjoy the same no income tax status you enjoy now.. 

My client bought a 22 unit building and used this strategy and walked out of closing with a check for $800k to perform the rest of the renovations, paid himself back his already expended rehab costs and his entire down payment.  

Since seller-paid fees usually cover their services, you get local expertise without additional expenses.Final ThoughtsLive where you like, but invest where you can achieve financial freedom.Out-of-state investing has proved to present excellent opportunities.

When the housing market became seller friendly, I unloaded 5/6 of our long term rental units, paid off our house with that and invested in stocks and mutual funds…completely no fun, right??

There's a few different ways to focus on a lower rate such as with house hacking and making the investment your primary residence, requesting a significant closing credit from the sellers for standard rate buy-downs (which I've had great success with recently), or utilizing lenders who offer short term rate lowering solutions such as 2-1 rate buy downs (again, ideally paid for by the sellers).

The 1st position loan is paid off but has a second position heloc on the home with 50k balance.

If the answer to the last question is yes, I think it'll be a hard choice.I see a reasonable appreciation rate for underwriting at about 6% based on neighborhood scout, so nominally I think you'll make 10-11% if you had paid cash which means I think you'll do quite well holding on (20% returns or so). 

The other groups I'm in are always reporting the difficulties of getting claims paid for.    

Think through what your parent or grandparents paid for their house.