It all depends on your goals and tolerence of risk and income taxes.I started out just like you with putting properties in my own name.

In regards to the HELOC question- that ultimately comes down to your personal risk tolerance.

@Matt RayThere are a lot of different factors to consider and what you place emphasis on will largely depend on your RE investing goals, risk tolerance and available cash for property purchase.

Some investors stick to one asset type and others will move to a different asset type at a lower point in the cycle compared to what they have been investing with in the past.Tons of different ways to invest and each person is different for risk and tolerance.  

Over the years, different people I've worked with have different risk/reward tolerances.  

I have NO tolerance for anyone that drives under the influence.

They have probably identified a certain tolerance, where an offer in that range will be accepted.

It all depends on what price point you are looking at, what your risk tolerance is and how much you are willing to put down.

In my experience the auctions at larger counties like Travis are not worth attending unless you have a lot of money and can tolerate very thin margins.

Since you cannot do conventional financing and HML are beyond your risk tolerance, I would recommend that you adjust your timeline and use an FHA loan.