A renovation company that has already completed over 350 renovations for us will quickly do whatever touchups/repairs are necessary so we can get the property back on the market.Use electronics to control access and reduce turnover time.

A HELOC will not allow you to deduct I believe on the interest unless the money is utilized for repairs on your primary residence and not to buy another home. 

Maybe have a decent sized pool of cash to take care of the occasional roof repair or personal expense, but almost entirely in real estate?

Apparently they handle all property repairs and maintenance independently and have maintained a perfect payment history, even throughout the pandemic.Lease Option Agreement:Effective Date: November 1, 2022Terms:Purchase Price: $165,000Non-Refundable Down Payment: $10,000Lease Term: 3 years (ends October 31, 2025)Final Payment: $158,000 balance due upon term completionMonthly Payment: $1,150 (no rent credits)I didn't see this to be a deal because if in a the best case scenario my $25000 would walk away with 2400 which is about a 9% ROI.

Once you find a potential tenant, you have to go through a Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspection, which can take a while and may require some repairs or tweaks to pass.

@Richard NguyenHere are some of the downsides of putting real estate into a self directed IRA or 401k.No tax deductions: You can’t claim deductions for property taxes, mortgage interest, depreciation, repairs, improvements and other property-related expenses.Property expenses: All expenses, repairs, and maintenance costs must be paid with IRA or 401k funds, and you must pay others to do repairs and manage the property.

I did this to build rapport I did not need to do this since my landlord in my lease is responsible for all repairs that are not caused directly by me or my guests.

I at one point charged tenants the first $50 of repair costs.

From everything I hear the costs exponentially grow when a PM hires out your repairs/maintenance compared to the cost of you source the work yourself.

There might be Some exceptions such as you did a bunch of repairs/improvements which increased the value of your home .