In both counties, the courts do not make public record of when the homeowner receives a Notice of Default, ONLY when the receive Notice of Trustees Sale.

Many things can go wrong and you need to protect your downside 

When I worked in Corporate America and a position opened up, the manager would always ask "who do you know" before advertising the job publicly (80% of the job market is "hidden" this way).

If you're going to ask the question in a public forum you're opening yourself up to all kinds of nastiness from the IRS. 

I am not too concerned with a major market correction.Personally I feel keeping enough to protect ones self from going underwater during a market correction makes sense, but I also see how having too much dead equity can be costly if you are looking to build your portfolio. 

You could legally form a Limited Liability Partnership that would give you some protections.

Mostly hoping for a better class of tenants (I know it's no guarantee) rather than general public renters, who have to this point pretty much trashed this place. 

@Mike RyIt is also worth noting that both IRAs and solo 401k plans are already fully protected from creditors in the great state of Texas.

Banks usually don't care what you use the HELOC for so long as they are protected in the event of default

Not no rehab.. and you don't get fake tenants and fake leases.. and payments on empty properties etc etc.. that gives you an illusion that your investment is safe .in my almost 2 decades of funding turn key this is the biggest violation of the public trust I have seen.. many get away with it for 2 to 6 months then go broke but this has been going on for pert near 2 years.. and now all these nice folks are learning that they were sold a bill of goods in many cases.