The way I see it I could borrow from family/friends, but those funds will need to be traced, so unless I'm sneaky and get "gift letters" this won't fly with traditional financing.I could structure a deal and make them partners to the investment, but I want to I will want to pay them off within 1 1/2 years. 

Since I'm technically borrowing 100% of the purchase price by taking the down payment from the HELOC (rather than the 75% loan against the subject property) I guess I could indicate 0% downpayment and create some sort of blended rate that represents the new 1st mortgage against the rental property and HELOC payment.

It depends on what you want to do there are many people on BP who advocate what I consider to be a house of cards with borrowing everything you can to maximize mathematical return. 

You could wholesale it to someone else.2. you could find an equity partner3. borrow it from a friend/ relative

You’ll be amazed as he describes a strategy that is “better than BRRRR”—and most importantly, the number one question you need to ask a property manager to find out if they are the right choice for you.

The problem is when you are trying to pick a market you have too many choices across 50 states!

At the end of it all, it is your choice on how much to collect for repairs, vacancy, cap ex, etc.

CA is a foreign country.. and I learned this as a HML there.. not nearly as cut and dry as being a lender in the US>. the judges in CA have wide latitude to cram down your rate.. give borrower more time etc etc.. 

Then we borrow against that equity and buy new properties.  

If not possible then do your due diligence on any operators in your market of choice.