I recommend choosing a market where you can break even or better on a monthly/annual basis, and experience moderate to strong appreciation.I also have plenty of clients who don't care about appreciation and focus purely on a monthly/annual cash cow- but I recommend a vacation rental property in a market that offers a balance of the two.

With the existing principle balance on the first mortgage that only affords me about $80K.

With that said - doing the books for a flipping business is not so difficult.You will have one large asset(Inventory(house)) that will keep growing until it is sold and removed from the balance sheet.

I am looking for some guidance on managing security deposits, repairs, and return of the balance from a bookkeeping standpoint. 

Just balance it with the risks. 

Then transferring the balance to a 0% apr 18 month cc. 

Comments;Recency of a balance overlimit on a bankcard accountNot enough available creditAverage balance of auto accounts is too highBankcard account balances are too high in proportion to credit limitsInquiries impacted the credit score*****************I got great vibes from this couple, but I'm not sure what to do when the results are mixed on a report like this.

I have a spreadsheet with a summary tab that clearly lays out my monthly/annual cash flows, portfolio loan balance, equity, etc. 

How high do you plan to let the HELOC balance get, do you have enough other cash to pay off the HELOC should the bank call in the outstanding HELOC balance in full?

Things like the rule of 78s causing them to pay towards unpaid interest before principle or balance is paid down.