this is a great piece of advice. so basically if i can get qualified for a million dollar loan then my loan terms can be better than commercial sub million dollar loan. what do first time investors do typically?

Being 100% financed would basically eat away any possible cash flow for the properties I'm looking at because of the HELOC interest.

I oversee a ~1.4 million SF shopping center / retail portfolio and from my experience here are some things I see that may help increase your odds of landing a higher quality tenant beyond the basic demographics (income, population density, etc):1. 

Hey BP members,So I understand the concepts and numbers behind BRRRR, flipping and some other strategies but I am wondering which calculator to use, or what exceptions to make within another calculator to analyze a property I would like to acquire. 

well you are about to launch into a financial deal with someone for usually hundreds of thousands and most wont' ask for any of this.. and just take whatever the person presents as fact.So I would if I was looking for a new partner ( and most of mine are a decade or longer so pretty good track record but we all have to start somewhere)  I think you want those basic items.In my day of HML when I used to lend to the general public and do 200 to 300 loans a year it was amazing what you turned up.when we set out to put our network together it was also amazing what you found out about ground partners.. 

So you are using the land contract agreement as basically a 'rent-to-own' deal? 

Also I've structured deals that have a time horizon well over 12-18 months if the projects are great with basically assured yields above expectations, and/or an annual coupon is assured. 

If I can buy a property in and around LA area (or even 2-3 hrs driving distance) and then both live there (im single, so very basic needs) and use 75% of the property for short term rental/airbnb etc, that would be ideal.

That would give some idea of what a basic cosmetic rehab cost would be. 

Monthly, rental income for a basic code approved RV space is likely to be $500 or more.