So, in other words, there is no safe way I can hire experienced painters who take on side jobs.

Get passive income using part of HELOC as down payment (+ conventional mortgage) to buy either turnkey property (safe) or BRRRR (more risky, but rewarding) either in your or out of state.

For example, of you want to buy one bedroom apartment in Toronto area that is $100K, you look for 1 bdr apartment rentals ads and look for areas where you could get min $1000.You could furnish the property to increase the rental substantially and advertise short term rentals (3-12 months) there's a big demand for furnished apartments by temporary workers, professionals, travelers, insurance claims, families between houses, etc.. especially in Toronto area.But to furnish a whole house will be quite expensive.If you decide to rent it out  you better menage by yourself to safe money.I would get rid of it and buy 3-4 apartments and get $3-4K/mo

RyanBanks/CUs Offering a HELOC Product for NOO Property in CaliforniaBank of the West (I think they will do this for a single family, but not for a condo/townhome)California Bank & Trust (up to 55% Combined LTV)California Coast Credit Union (70% CLTV)East West Bank (60% CLTV)Fremont Bank (65% CLTV)Pentagon Federal Credit Union (70% CLTV)SAFE Credit Union (70% CLTV)Union Bank (up to 65% CLTV)Wells Fargo (up to 60% CLTV)Wescom Credit Union  (70% CLTV)

Is there safe parking nearby?

Between these two extremes, are a lot of areas that are safe areas but nothing fancy, where you can buy in for a reasonable amount and get good rents, so you'll have some cash flow as well as a good shot at some long term appreciation. 

Also in April 2014, more than 460 million homes were viewed on Zillow via a mobile device, which equates to 178 homes per second.

And the bigger DST sponsors are generally the safe harbor.

I use deal check. it's an app for android devices. it cost me like 10$ and its great. it can upload straight from the MLS or you can input manually.

It doesn't have the distance that WiFi has but each device acts as a repeater.The best thing about Z Wave is the low power radio.