We have some money in our Heloc to either buy another investment property or just buy ourselves a house that does not need massive work, good neighborhood and is energy efficient.

Yes, the mobile homes built today are more energy efficient than their predecessors, but they can't beat the solid interior and exterior of a Tiny Home built by a professional company.

If truly all it needs is a new roof to be complete and ready to sell then a few ideas off the top of my head could be:1)  Borrow the money from friends or family to replace the roof2)  Put the cost of the roof on a no/low interest credit card and pay it off as soon as the house sells3)  Go through a home improvement store (like Home Depot) that offers financing for larger projects like roof replacement4)  Don't replace the roof and just lower your sales price or offer the buyers a credit to fix it themselves after closing

Being in the home improvement business as a contractor since 1992 I have helped many investors and homeowners in my area in all phases of home improvement.

When I did this two months ago they knew nothing about the new Title 24 energy requirements (mainly 1.5-2kw PV solar mandate roughly $4k after fed tax credit) that go into effect January 1 nor the new assembly bills (SN 13 then as yet unsigned).

Since you would have more units, you would have more scale on depreciation of appliances and improvements like a parking lot or security lighting that you may not have on a SFR.

High efficiency,  Plastic Laminate.

.- water efficient heads- Chicago controls thermostats- coin op laundry was our move this year- big ticket item but I am still a kid when I empty the quarters 👍 - make room for parking on the property- additional $- turn the boiler down.

Also is area improving.

Things will improve as the light rail expands but that is still a ways off.