I also wouldnt let your mom go into 2nd position on an investment property with any sort of restructuring; it doenst sound like she's in a position to risk being wiped out.Overall, though, if you want cashflow on the new property but cant achieve that after a refi into a market rate loan, it probably makes more sense to just flip it, pay off your heloc and your mom, and use the remaining capital for the next deal.

Landlords can easily do it without a mortgage but they are taking a huge risk.

If they can do 1 hour or work 40 hours for the same pay why put in the 40 hours?

I know there is a lot that I'm going to need to learn, and ultimately it will come down to how much the student puts into it.  

My wife not comfortable putting our house as equity, therefore we are utilizing other options to fund investment properties. 

Don't be fooled by the "set it and forget it" advice.I put together a graphic that dives deeper into the pricing strategies I implemented that could help you bring in more revenue for your STR!

I tend to operate under conditions I’m familiar with, also taking calculated risks of what I don’t know yet.

Also, at this time I had seen properties selling for 10 – 20% over ask regularly.Interest Rate 30 year conventional 7%Homeowners Insurance = $1,000 annuallyRents = $1,800 per monthWhen I looked at those assumptions, I would need to put down $80,000 on this house to get it to hit my cashflow goal of $500 minimum per month which equates to 35% down.Total mortgage + escrow = $1,267.13 per month with rents at $1,800 my monthly cashflow is $532.87.From my experience, after taking out vacancy and maintenance costs you are left with around 73% of that total cashflow number once the rental is established.People have asked why a $500 per month cashflow goal.

So with this in mind, it might make sense to put it to use somewhere else and sell. 

Do I have grounds to put a lien myself or levy the property from the owner?