I'm a real estate agent that works in the metro Boston area and I specialize in investment sales and rentals. 

I'm an investor in the Atlanta metro area and I'm at my 10 property limit looking for other  financing options. 

RenoeMiami, FL Metro AreaActive Investor.Looking for Sub-Syndication Opportunities!

This spring I purchased my first Duplex in Metro Detroit (Center Line) for 93k.

Cleveland, like most other Midwestern metro's has a lot of price variation & blight depending on where you're investing.

Any investors familiar with the greater Atlanta , GA area that would like to offer any advice to a beginner looking to make the first purchase

You have Flagstaff, Phoenix Metro, and Tucson and that's really it as far as notable cities with remotely significant populations.I've been here for about 15 years so I can only speak for Phoenix, but the spreads here can be nice, but only if you find off-market deals.

In the Kansas City Metro you might check with Julie Anderson Clark (she's on facebook, but we can't post her website) here company does contracts, foreclosures and is probably the biggest eviction firm in the metro. 

Can I use a HELOC or other option to buy and find a fixer- upper with this amount particularly in the Metro-Atlanta area?

Here in the metro Boston market, their own accuracy claim is that they're within 10% of the sales price 79.3% of the time.