I buy from neighboring towns he does not invest in and get the properties low enough it makes sense to take the risk on buying without inside access or utility on.If you assume its paint and polish, you will get burned. 

I know it is possible to individually search county records for each properties' county website which I will absolutely do once I am ready to make an offer, however when I am simply browsing properties online without MLS access, I don't think that should be completely necessary just yet.

I think HELOC is tax deductible for up to $100k on primary residence’s home improvement.

Also note that you have to improve the property, land, etc. so if you purchase a home or business for say $10,000 you have to also put a minimum of 10K into it for improvement.

For example:  The sales price is $120,000 the rehab is $30K and the after improved value is $210,000.  

In sum, you need to make some pretty substantial improvements (like almost razing the original building).

Not be answered on here, but why can your credit not be improved over the 12 month span of the HM loan?

Unfortunately, it sounds like you would be throwing good money at bad if you try to do any improvements.

I was an accidental landlord, and also an accidental appreciation investor, but it has truly created a lot of wealth for me and has opened a lot of doors to which I didn't have access before.

Although market conditions improved, I felt that we didn't have enough equity to pull out of the house and do the work, so I decided to take a 20k personal loan out.