Fico Scores can drop fast when a person starts to open and take out multiple LOC's and mortgages which is considered "Excessive tradelines" based on your DTI.Helocs are great for quick renovations or repairs and should be used and paid off or down quickly.

I started out with a flip house and am currently focusing on long-term rentals.

That drive is quite a drag, especially when I travel 15-20 hours to Europe and land at midnight and have to drive another 2 hours back home in Sedona.I'm thinking of buying a small condo in a decent area not too far from the airport, that I can also STR while I don't need to use it (which would be 95% of the time) and offset the mortgage with... maybe even cash-flow a bit?

Does anyone know if I am able to start an LLC and run short term rentals?

They were supposed to bill based on hours (different rates for framers, drywallers, supervisors, etc.), and send me invoices every week.However, they never sent me the invoices each week, and when I asked about the overall cost of the project toward the end of may (the project started in May), they told me $35,000 so far.

Unproven contractors need to be started with small jobs and they can work themselves into the bigger rehabs. 

Operating partner not paying loan or taxes and lender threatening to foreclose, who was also a family friend at the start. 

You will have to get permits and disclose your contractor ...AB 968 requires the seller of a singlefamily residential property to disclose work done on the property, if the seller obtained title of the property within...

She is still technically employed and earning an income while she still has sick hours, and she may get Worker's Compensation, but she may not.

Obviously these are very generalized numbers and I feel your pain with L&I, they gotta be getting paid by the hour based on how slow and painful it is to deal with them sometimes.