This is not a plug and play city, you need to know the rules.

Greatly agree with other sentiments that your PM is playing it safe / lazy. 

This negotiating skill also comes into play when repairs come up after the inspection, or there is some other unexpected issue. 

If you're okay with that and want to play the appreciation game, then I can understand that but it's all speculative investing at that point.

Didn't we play Torrey with Marley a couple of years ago?!?!

My wife just fired her property management because the owner has been playing games about charging her repairs on her house without giving her the price before the works and deducted 3 months of the rents plus she also have to pay over $7,000 in addition to  the works which only partially done and ignored even after several complaints.

What do they play to use the HELOC for?

Since the HELOC is a short-term play, I was thinking of keeping it on the variable rate, and keep close watch of the prime rate & the Federal Funds Rate to have an idea if the interest rate is set to increase. 

And because $462 is well below the best practices for contingency savings, you should expect to fund emergency expenditures out of your own pocket if they arise early on.This is where a thorough inspection comes into play.

In the last few years we flipped a few houses (major renos) but not EVERYTHING is overpriced and any play is based on future price speculations.