I did a HELOC on the primary to scale, but I am looking for a lender that does HELOC purely on investment properties.

Prior to that they had installed a beautiful, very expensive xeriscape landscape front and back, which is a joy to look at, and which also must have sapped their finances in addition to a new furnace, new roof, new central AC, and cosmetics in the interior of the house (LVT & tile etc).I plan to call a few attorneys to try to determine what my liability would be because the sellers have stated their plan to take me to court if I challenge them.What's your quick opinion, should I avoid the stress of litigation?

From a purely financial standpoint I could probably quit the full time job now but I’m still relying on my meager income from the W-2 to help me qualify for financing.

If you are in a pure SFH neighborhood and add an ADU, it typically will not appraise at the same value as the primary home. 

I have 4 rentals right now, all house hacks....and 3 more on the way as pure rentals.

This is pure manure.

They will not represent a side but are purely to keep the transaction going(on track with deadlines) and compliant with the state. 

So, are you looking at purely investment properties or is Househacking an option? 

You are making a cogent point.But my point here is that if you think through the series of events from the perspective of the wholly naive and innocent new tenants with motives as pure as the driven snow here: rent the house. move in, worry about lead paint, search the internet for lead paint danger and learn about the reduced danger to adults, buy a $15 swab kit online, test the paint, bring the results to the LL's attention, well, that seems suspicion.

Maybe when I’m making more pure cash flow I’ll be able to give a real gift but for now at least some of them have expressed their thanks which of course was not my reason for doing it.