I would then take out a HELOC to leverage the equity she has built up over the years (current value of the home is about $800k) for a down payment on an investment property or two.I was recently advised that putting the house in a trust, rather than adding my name to the deed, and putting myself as a beneficiary would be smart for estate planning purposes and give me access to commercial loan options as well as residential.However, I want to know if there is a major difference between the amount I would qualify for on the HELOC if I were to apply as a Trust or as an individual.I would assume either way the bank would be looking at my income to debt ratio and make a judgment that way.I appreciate the feedback!

But with rule of thumbs like the 50% rule, it looks pretty good.I'm using a combination of the BP calculator and the 4 square method to analyze this, but I'm wondering if there are more experienced investors out there who could help me out and see how I can improve and what I might be missing in my calculations. 

If you have never been there, you have to go through a Marine security check point to access the city

The demo cost you should consider part of your our investment / improvement cost.  

If there're things to improve upon that will take the value up, for instance, roof, windows, kitchens, then consider improving.

They will argue that you only improved the property $10,000 so the value went up $10,000.

now focus on finding the next deal.There's more than $$$ to improve:1) how can I reduce my costs2) how can I do it in less time (holding costs,early start planning etc)3) how can I make it sell quicker (staging etc)so there, more things to think about besides felling bad for 5k.

From your description you are not making any improvements to the land and have no plans to, just hoping the value goes up over time. 

I don't have pro, so I don't have access to the rental property evaluation tool. 

Hi Dale,First, keep in mind that your gain for tax purposes is not how much cash you walk away with, but the selling price less your original purchase price (plus any capital improvements made; no depreciation in this case).If your gain is still more than $250,000, there isn't anything that you can do directly.