Also HELOC's have in the fine print, the ability of the lender to at their discretion:.

Analyst at banks still look at ability to repay if loan is not forgiven or business owner doesn't allocate as they say they would.  

Anything can be a good investment but pricepoint, ability to execute and a host of other things matter as well.

With so many options to buy out there, and me being a newbie, I am trying to determine my fastest way to weed out as many non deals as possible before having to run all of the numbers, which takes time. 

Other than that, have at it.I know my limits, however, and realize taking on a project of this magnitude is beyond my current ability.

@River Luce I would suggest that you start looking for properties that offer you the ability to create value. 

Your lenders would need to determine if they have a real loan preapproval or is it a preapproval to apply for a loan that might be worth up to $300,000. 

The next step the Appraiser would take is to determine the operating expenses R.E.

Home values will be hard to determine during this time, but find something that works for your numbers and jump in.Best of luck.  

In some states e-mail might be legal but non-enforceable in a court of law.You need to determine ( Is this tenant worth keeping?)