In my state the tenant is responsible for protecting the property, notifying the PM of extended absences, and keeping the heat on when it is freezing.  

The rule change was supposed to go into effect last Friday, but they’ve postponed it until end of the month in order to extend the public commenting period (see article linked below).

That's significantly more than most investors want to hold in cash, but I want to be in a point where our rental properties are 100% self-sustainable even in a worse case scenario without my husband or I bringing in any income.  5k roughly equals about 6 months of PITI per property, covers most if not all cap-ex expenses and is also my insurance deductible. 10k would cover any "worst case scenario" of insurance claim, extended vacancy, multiple out of pocket cap-ex, etc. 

Do the downspouts extend away from the foundation?

Because they are generous and extend SCRA benefits to those currently serving.Congrats and around $500 cash flow, we've been looking for a few weeks in our area and can barely find anything to crack $150/mo cash flow.Best wishes on your investment.

It might be tempting because the potential returns are higher, but it’s also much more complex with greater potential downside.This probably goes without saying, but be careful about how quickly you try to build if only because of how much it will extend you.

In your example, you would ask that the private lender extend their original loan to $125,000, but 75% of $165,000 is $123,750. 

Flooding sites included several large foundation cracks extending from the floor to the ceiling.

Most of those investors were over extended and had to sell.  

Since a HELOC is basically a second mortgage it would make me nervous to have that money out for extended periods of time.