Or does it have to based off a straight paying tenant?

Quote from @Ricardo Lemus: For a newer investor, a good investment is a property that pays for all expenses with some cash left over.

Mom is fully insured w/Medicare (Parts A-G), BUT it pays $0 for long-term care (skilled nursing is only temp & not her need). 

I purchased my first SFH (3 bed, 2 bath) and currently have a tenant paying $850. 

If so, they can sell within 2 years and not pay capital gains taxes on the sell of the home.They could take that money and buy multiple rental homes in other areas if they wanted, or use the money to downsize in to a different home while still having money left over.

I take the approach of the investor pays me a fixed fee to learn this on their own so they never have to pay me again if they don't want to.

You will have long term appreciation, equity pay down, and tax advantages to help with the return. 

Attend in person, bid, if you win you have to pay right then via a cashiers check.

If you do have a TX LLC just to hold a TX property, you still have to register in CA as a foreign LLC, which still means paying the CA LLC tax.

However, after talking to some loan professionals, it seems that there are always origination fees, appraisal fees etc.My question is, what fees should I expect to pay when opening up my first HELOC.