@Saban BecirovicThey don't look terrible from the pictures.

Wow… that is incredibly terrible.

And you need a CPA from the start to make sure you're not making it terrible mistake in terms of tax implications.  

I wouldn’t recommend anything too terrible as you want it to look ok but scratches or dents that are hidden by walls or are small can be ok.

I was terrible at the property management side, but I found someone that was able to help me find a solid PM to get things rolling.

Not terribly unsurprising as 2020 cast a lot of uncertainty on the market but the 5x increase on that metric is nonetheless impressive.  

@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.