You can  ask your bank if you have any option to fix the rate when you withdraw the money from HELOC.

Is it likely....probably not.I negotiated many times with hoa’s in short sales, but they were looking bigger losses if the bank foreclosed....depends on the situation.  

Maybe they could help with screenings, contractors, etc. but also that's  something I can do online/phone... and if tenants have bank accounts take care of rent that way too.

My next step was to confirm financing by talking with local banks.

@Rita Lo It is very difficult to use a bank when it comes to auctions.

Factoring in the mortgage, I came out at $90.68 (526.27 Net Operating Income - $435.59 mortgage) as my monthly cash flow.So here are my questions:Am I correct in thinking that I can finance $100,000 to cover my cash in, and use the difference between the appraised value and the financed amount ($41,000) as the minimum 20% equity to stay in the property that is needed by the bank? 

I invest in RE to grow my seed money quickly, and to take the returns in the form of cash, so I can move forward even faster.I take the profits, and use some of it to invest in stocks...but I treat the stock market like a bank account. 

I'm planning on revising our budget so we can bank my full income in 2019 which would give us about 40k+ cash to play with if all goes well.

Do I search out large institutional banks or smaller local community banks? 

The best thing will be to get an inspector to inform me of everything that needs to be done, then get my estimates.I'm already pre-approved for a mortgage with a bank, but want to use that as my very last resort bc they're strict with who you can use to do the rehab once you're under a 203K loan.