Here in Eastern PA (Philly and suburbs) inventory is still tight, but you can start to see more homes coming on the market at a faster rate than months prior.

Our house values generally rise faster than the rest of the country.If numbers are this terrible, what are investors actually doing in Socal then?

You can house hack to help build equity faster in your property since you won't be making a large downpayment through the 3.5% loan program.   

I am sure once we are more or less established the process will be faster. 

I was wondering if I should get a HELOC to access the equity faster as opposed to doing a cash-out refi to avoid the 6 month seasoning period. 

Luckily in Vegas it’s a non-issue with basically zero vacancy and rents increasing faster than ever. 

But frankly, the way for this to work is to go high speed, buy-rehab and sale or rent but fast, 2 weeks rehab 1 month to close/rent, that's my goal, even paying little higher to the contractor will payback because of holding cost reduction, just find what is a good balance for you, we all have different approaches, I think speed it is key when the margin is not that big like in MHs, but is a good steady income, good luck, just close one and next one will be easier and faster

I don't think it will work for my current situation though.I'm curious: How does a 1st position HELOC help pay down the mortgage faster?

You could try some wholesaling or flipping to grow your equity faster.

The better the deals you buy, the faster you'll create wealth, but as long as you hold, you should come out ahead in the long run.Buying turnkey is a slow wealth builder with low-involvement.