They too have costs associated with the general meetings, the occasional Saturday workshop, and the various subgroup meeting facilities.  

That's not to mean that no one has anything to offer unless asked; I occasionally write blog posts and, of course, respond to posts, with my own personal opinion/facts/insight on things, but if I wanted to be completely honest this really more feeds my own personal need for community and validation than offering ground-breaking insight, as I'm no genius when it comes to this stuff - just a guy who's done reasonably well seeing and taking advantage of opportunities.

I like you just fine, you have just said some presumptuous things.You asked a question that actually gets asked quite occasionally on here (usually by fresh out college folks ;-) and it's a fair question.

I also own & manage, would be more than happy to chat about being your occasional weekend coverage! 

Very occasionally I see land for sale from them.

There are the occasional business use, but mostly large family groups that come for weddings, baptisms, missionary farewells and returns, family reunions, etc.

Unfortunately the RE experts I would trust to mentor my child are in San Diego and he is at UC Santa Barbara and typically only comes down occasionally for a very busy weekend. 

I primarily Buy & Hold but do fix and flip occasionally. 

(Though that depends significantly on when your friend needs how much cash, and when they’ll pay it back - if they need cash occasionally, and will pay it back occasionally, then a HELOC may be worthwhile, despite what might be higher interest rates). 

While a rate of 6% is actually cheap the 7-8 points is a pay-me-now before you pay-me-again-later move and vastly excessive.Here on the other side of the continent, you would be looking at 8-10% on a private first and 13-16% on a second ... and usually only 1-3, occasionally 4, points.