so 2% rule. 

Not an advocate of big gov, just do their jobs efficiently and enforce the rules evenly.     

We lived in HOA and needed to pay several hundred to send out hoa disclosure package send a certification to buyer that property was in line with all hoa rules, another expense I forgot about. 

(In reality it was a 260/month increase and I spent 35.5k on repairs and improvements before he took possession.

Both of these would be a big improvement over what I currently have with TVS.I am curious what the consensus of this thread will be. 

Yes - you have to find a way to improve the value of the SFR enough to cash out more than you owe on the HELOC.

That being said, over-improvement is a "thing" and many a new landlord has fallen into the trap of spending money with no ROI from those improvements.

Save up the money, improve your credit score, and buy smart.You can get lower down-payment deals through owner financing but it takes work and patience.By the way, don't make the mistake of spending your last dime to make a deal work.

I will have to look into going to the foreclosure auction, thank you Marcus.depending on area investors kind of shoot for that 1% rule so that would put market value with 950 rent at 95 or so minus repairs.. at least what I have seen in parts of FLA maybe that area landlords will pay more.

You need to incentivize them to mentor you or partner with you, either you work pro bono for them or bring something to the table of value.To your comment about "shady" or dishonest, I would encourage to you be as honest and forthcoming as possible, I don't know about you but I got into real estate because I wanted to do something meaningful, profitable for my family's benefit, I wanted to benefit from my level of effort rather than giving it to someone else, and most of all I wanted to make the world a better place by improving whatever it is I am working on; I want to be able to lay my head on the pillow at night knowing I did everything I could today to move forward in a positive direction and did so with integrity in order to prevent any form of regret.