They received nothing from insurance, yet their houses were essentially worthless.

Are there an established local RE investor willing to grab lunch or coffee in NYC to talk through what they're doing and lend some insight to a newbie? 

The deadline is very strict, and the custodian must receive the money by the deadline.If it's anything other than A or B - there could be some important complications.Once you acquire the property, ideally you should limit your personal use to no more than the greater of: 14 days, or10% of the total days you rent it to others at a fair rental price.If you exceed this number, your tax deductions will be limited.And when I say "personal use" it does not mean just you.

At that price, and if the bank is willing to lend @ 80% LTV, you should expect to receive a credit line of up to $400,000.

Apply for a HELOC at 4.75% as my property received a tax appraisal of roughly $35k higher than my market price.

Having to dig up the parking lot and redo the line to the street and repave can be many tens of thousands of dollars depending on the length of the run involved and how deep the lines are.Make sure you have the full financial numbers from the seller and they verify before spending thousands on inspections to only find out sellers numbers are wrong and they will not adjust the price etc.Hopefully in your purchase and sale contract you had language such as due diligence period does not start until ALL of the items listed are received by the buyer.

This best practice is no different than if you receive a physical check from a tenant.

He had been receiving “rent” for 7 months.

I received some intel from a family fried who is currently a student there, and it aligns with your insight very well. 

Well I can't help you much, as I barely received my Salesperson License last week, but I am also from the Ventura area and looking to invest in the future.