They are great sellers, but then want you to pay extra pretty much for EVERYTHING!  

So they price those homes at what a willing homeowner will pay for their personal residence.

If the home pays for itself and you can afford it, keep it.

You'll need to have 10%  thru the sale account by 5pm the day of the win, and will have to pay the remainder within 15 days of the win.

I like the idea of using a HELOC for value add projects where you can refi in 12 months to pay back your HELOC.

I obviously want to pay the lowest taxes over time.

Fannie Mae will allow you to transfer the deed to an LLC if you decide to try to go the conventional route, but the loan would still be in your names and you'll need to pay a title company a second time post-closing to do this  for you. 3) I can't speak for the area so no comment there4) If you're self managing, make sure you find vendors you can trust in the area since you won't be able to easily verify if an HVAC guy, plumber, etc. is trying to rip you off and tell you to buy something you don't actually need. 5) Make sure you have clear alignment of goals and a clear operating agreement that spells out what to do if those goals start to not align in the future since you'll be jointly obligated to these properties. 

Now, I'm imaging a scenario when every one of these tenants move out that I'll be paying their entire security deposit + interest even if there are damages beyond normal wear and tear. 

I reduced my responsibility to only taxes/insurance while the tenant buyer does the maintenance, pays utilities and makes monthly payments to me. 

This means that you will probably need to pay registration and filing fees in at least 2 states if you don’t buy CA property as a CA resident.Any lawsuits should be limited to the assets of the LLC and not your personal assets (assuming you run the LLC appropriately and the corporate veil is not pierced, some debate as to SMLLC).