Whether to rent the property or flip it is solely based on your long term plan and situation.

I'm based in San Jose and investing in Ohio/ North Kentucky :)

The Housing Authority calculates what each individual tenant is able to afford based on their bedroom needs and income. 

No seasoning.Key Bank, FLorida flexible lender, HELOCs on second homes and rental properties. 90% LTV on primary.PenFed - max 3 other properties, 89% LTVRegions- yes HELOC but no LOCSCCU Florida 70% LTV, 6.25% interest only, not LLCSound CU "non-owner occupied HELOC, capped at $150K and interest rates are prime + 2%, 3% or 4%, based on credit, not to exceed 70% ltv.”TD BankTIAA Direct was EverBankTower FCU, all states except TX, max 45 DTI, green card ok.

Personally I work in the lending business and would love to inform you on my experience based up on what my clients typically go for.

First, there is no institutional lender that I know of that would touch doing a HELOC behind a mortgage that did not belong to the borrower.

Our firm actually does no small amount of work with private equity firms that buy NH based businesses... and then don't want to deal with the NH tax issues and farm it out. 

It's all based on the individual investor's deal criteria. 

You've touched on a classic startup dilemma: the 'chicken and egg' problem.

I would  not classify as a killer deal based on my personal experience.