That way, rental income will cover at least HELOC payment, and all I have to worry about is making mortgage payment on a new home.  

I don't have enough capital to cover the loan amount he is asking for.

Hmmm, they didn't cover this one in "Flip or Flop".Have you tried talking to the neighbors?

They provided me all the info during the screening process.

It is not unusual for especially an old guy who has had the place forever to basically do nothing to fix things, barely screen tenants, leave units unfilled, don't keep recognizable records and just collect whatever rent they can.

The earnest money was $1k and deposit was $4k, yes seller keeps EM if I don't perform within my time period however my escape clauses usually covers me from lossing my EM.

We were able to cover our expenses on all of our vacation rentals with a few bookings from folks who wanted to social distance in our properties, so we didn’t have to dip into our cash reserves.

They often invite speakers to cover topics related to REI. 

I literally have to cut and paste my ad (along with my pre-screening questions) into a response to these quasi-automated inquiries.   

@Josh Caldwell and @Jeanni Prescan i just settled a property this week where there was a holdback (an escrow ) set up to cover PA State Inheritance Tax liability, and I had another one two weeks ago, so I've had money taken from the proceeds on two settlements in two weeks going to Dept of Revenue for PA Inheritance Tax.We've also had hundreds of settlement, where the owner of the PA real estate lived in another state and "assumed"  that since they weren't PA residents that they didn't have to pay the Tax.