Now purchasing a home with cash is always good b/c obviously cash is king but also I think the part you might've missed is that, the money your utilizing on these home's won't actually be yours, but the banks or whatever institution you used to fix the home or make its value worth more.

I would pick a market area you like and start doing a bunch of deep dive deal analysis, but from a rental and not a life style standpoint.  

HOW TO SHARE UTILITIES 101You have a property with two or more units and the utility meters are shared.

You can also tell her to call the utility company about the best way to save, as turning off heat and on is not efficient having to run longer blasting out cold air as opposed to leaving it set at a lower temp. :)

lots to learn here just browse around and you'll pick up on stuff and know where to hone in more im specific areas you are interested in. 

There's more low-hanging fruit here than I'll ever need, but hitting the ground running to pick it before land prices start reflecting the new higher values requires more capital than I have and I don't do debt.There are two main companies in the US who do the work of creating and selling eco-mitigation credits on a joint venture basis, separated by the Mississippi river.

I would love to talk to someone who has rented to college students before and sort of pick their brain.  

Utilize tools like BiggerPockets for resources and calculators, and consider creating a simple spreadsheet to track property details, budgets, and timelines.

In Chicago you request a CHA Burden sheet and that gross number minus utility allowance will be what you get in addition to making sure bedroom size is adequate.  

So all in all, the investment seems solid to me, and this is not my first rodeo, as they say.As for the risks associated with the SBLOC, I minimize those by only utilizing a portion of the LOC so that even if the market drops another, lets say 30%, the risk of margin call is slim.