You could do all your wood cutting with a hand saw, and sometimes it makes more sense to use a hand saw - maybe there's no electricity, or you have to cut such little wood that setting up the table saw makes no sense.

Does it make sense to increase my home debt to invest in other property???

As others have mentioned: in your situation it sounds like you should be working with a commercial bank.There are times, if all the other aspects of the deal make sense, you can use a hybrid of a historical and proforma P&L if there are <12 months rental information.

Make sense?

Focus on analyzing the deal and see if it makes sense for you.

My NJ friend chuckles and says he can't get a house for less than $120,000 that is livable.Regardless of market entry price-point, a deal has to make sense. 

I do appreciate it and that makes perfect sense. 

Is it common to proceed UD with the nonsense repairs ( outstanding repairs) the tenant’s claiming, surely everyone has common sense sees what’s going on?

Maybe for large apartment buildings that will make sense but for 1-4 units I don't see the need to request a seller's tax return. 

Of course that makes sense.