@Keleisha CarterShort answer: buy it for 30k cash, fix it, then flip it.This deal is terrible as laid out. 

As an ex-restauranteur, I’m terribly concerned about the restaurant industry, which is in the middle of a massive reset.

Nobody said that helocs are universally terrible, they are only universally terrible if people are using them in the way that you are advocating. 

For sure, it's interesting because LA has great weather but a lot of objective 'cons' against it - cost of living, CA State Taxes (be prepared to take a 10% hit compared to TN), city does a terrible job of maintaining roads, traffic, and homelessness is rising.

I really did feel terrible about having to do it but I did my best to convey that it was beyond my control.

Like anywhere, the people you work with can be great or terrible, and some agents do get assigned crap mentors.

Of course, a 10 cap in some terrible part of town or in some tiny town of 500 people is not the same as a low cap rate in LA. 

@Juan Correia my thoughts are that this is a terrible situation.

I realize most RE attorneys *can* do contracts seller finance and lease options but the few I've talked to so far don't seem to be very familiar and didn't leave me feeling terribly confident. 

Terrible idea.