The same way you would hire a wedding planner, and sign a contract to know that they will perform, and they know that they will be paid for the work they do for you, it's a win/win.

Is it stating that home has specific repairs or stipulations that need to be performed in order to obtain home?

@Justin AbdillaAll of this does make me wonder about FHA, VA and other PMI non performing notes as an investment though.

Where does everyone gather market performance data from?

I would measure your returns based on your invested equity position and see how the same equity would perform in a different property.

I'm assuming by that you mean you would purchase the whole property and perform the repairs using your HELOC.

I haven’t self performed or managed a project in house in a long time. 

If home sales "collapse", rental rates will skyrocket as vacancy rates fall below 1%, and there in valuations jump, enticing sales of such, and there is a giant boost of property sales. 

He's been performing due diligence on debt and equity financing requests for clients for ten years.

I would also try to pick nonvolatile markets where your equity position and rental performance don't suffer in a recession.For the highest cash flow possible, I like secondary markets.