Another thing to in mind is wholesale deals are cash deals so you typically can't get bank financing to close them. 

I only wish I was confident I would be able to refinance since I'm self employed without the W2 income verification conforming banks require.

It's intriguing but I believe you run the risk of the original bank calling the loan. 

Generally the same banks, credit unions, savings & loans, etc will all make commercial loans.

Makes a HELOC really tempting, and I'm sure the bank would see me coming from a mile away offering my daughter all sorts of free suckers.

So for me, while cash flow is important, especially to show banks that the properties are profitable in order to get loans on them, I think that an investor should look at the investment as a whole and not just invest solely for cash flow.I would love to get the opinion of the BiggerPockets community on how important cash flow is to them in determining which properties to invest in.

If you invest in a home and do not live in it, banks typically require 20%-25% down. 

@Omar Khan I bought all the properties using a rehab loan from the bank using 20 year amortization 5year arm.

Is there anything I need to do prior going to the bank?

Lower appraisal means better protection for the bank.