I, myself, am a CPA and business-minded person with solid funds to put forward and I've also been a buy-and-hold investor for about 10 years now.  

Do not show w/o loan pre-approval and a letter for Proof of Funds being submitted with the offer. this stops lookie-lou's and unnecessary inspections. 

If you can find a great deal for a flip or BRRRR, you can borrow Gap funding from a private lender.

Not sure how legal it is, but you can ask for proof of funds for a couple months worth of rent. 

I am self-employed and take out large deductions, so using returns for income verification is a problem.Do I have any options to pull out equity from these properties, or do I have to turn to hard money to fund this flip?

So finding motivated seller leads give the seller or owner a way out of their bad situation, i.e. debt, and allows a buyer to take them out of the situation simultaneously finding ways to lower debt or raise value of the house to make a profit..

Applying for a HELOC: with 20% equity in the residence and considering taking out a line of credit to fund a down payment for an investment property in Chicago, Austin, or Pittsburgh.  

I will probably keep working for another year or two to get the seed money(and financing options, as necessary) to fund my next few projects.  

I inherited a vacancy and raised the rent by $25 no problem (could have done $50!!).

You can read about my lessons learned on the other ones here:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/217842-closed-on-250-apartments-in-houston-texas-yesterday-2-lessons-learnedhttps://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/294621-closed-on-155-units-in-houston-yesterday-3-lessons-learnedhttps://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/316836-closed-on-320-unit-last-week-6-ways-to-break-into-the-bizThis analysis looked at the investors who invested, in particular, looking at if they are new or returning AND how much each (new vs. returning) contributed to the total raise.Here’s the finding on this deal: 69% are new investors31% are returning investorsThe interesting thing I found is that the % capital contributed to total raise was almost split 50/50.