You haven't filled out your profile yet so I can't tell what attracted you to this site but if you own rental properties or plan to own rental properties in the near future you know (or will learn) that insurance is a large expense.

Credit Unions often have more attractive rates and somewhat  more flexible rules for their Helocs.

But the person who asks other people to show them the exact path towards real estate riches usually doesn't attract the best possible mentor.  

The real estate lady thought I could collect about 1400 for rent on this 1 bdrm condo.

What defines 'PIG" is functional obsolescence, age, CapEx overhead due to the previous 2 items, class of tenant attracted to location and structure, etc.$30,000 in SFR space buys 1 type of thing

Looking at a commercial asset that has an existing CMBS loan with very attractive terms.

As the broker is suppose to supervise your activity.. and if some little old lady makes a complaint that one of his agents bought her 300k home for 150k  then flipped it in 2 days for 225k.. well that's were the liability comes in.

Source of income is also protected class so be careful but my guess is a lot of students aren't going to be loaded at that point in life so you may set the bar high when screening for income levels and attract only top-earners to your rental.  

This has not been my experience with single family rentals which tend to attract higher income people as rents are higher.

This can be attractive to a seller because they can be protected via promissory note, personal guarantee, etc.