So upgrading all the knobs in the home for $1,000 will probably give you $0 in value.  

You must trade equal or up in value based on the the sale price of the house (not the gain, profit or equity). 

HELOCs are very useful but they are not the right tool for every scenario. 

If you don't have access to the MLS you'll have to use Zillow or Realtor.com or some other online tool to look at recently solds

Use the tools here on BP to deduct from that rent, proerty taxes, insurance, maintenance/vacancy & PM estimates.

Its a pretty common planning tool.

What is the best tool to analyze multi family deal?

I was made aware of the alerts by Lara, a AWESOME tool.

@Austin James OrnerI'm a commercial broker and investor so i have alot of tools through realist and corelogic that my realtors association provides. if you're a broker or have one on your team that's the most cost efficient way to find off market properties. you still need to skip trace and market to them though so consider that.

These groups can be a valuable tool for you to learn the business and are typically a great place to meet investors, wholesalers, realtors and others in the business.