I have only used my HELOCs for RE investing so while I am sure it came up early on with my CPA, I did not remember that distinction.

You can go back and look at other markets and if you look over 10,15 or 20 year segments and compare to the historical appreciation rate, you will find that it will be very close most of the time.  

A very important distinction to understand.

There is a distinct lack of understanding of how the system actually operates and how you have to operate within it.

Everywhere in the US has a fairly distinct offseason other than Southern California but the prices are too high.

What options are you considering in this segment?

If not, you may want to spend more to be in a different market segment, but I might suggest you won’t make much (if any) more profit on the nicer unit... but you will be dealing with a slightly nicer caliber of renter... more white collar versus blue collar. 

That said, if you are confident that that segment is overheated, I'd fix up and sell.

Yes, investors are making the individual decisions of what to pay for a property, but it's an important distinction.

In that market segment you will find many of those owners are tax deduction people.