pay the debt down again.you need to be firm on not to use the HELOC on liabilities, Holidays and cars etc. 

Your all-in cost/debt for those $150-$180k homes should be no more than $105-126k!

Have ample reserves.Carry less debt. 

You will spend a lot of money on marketing to talk to great listing leads and do nothing with them if you only have one trick in your bag.

The professional will plan, execute, and track a campaign to generate weekly leads to be provided to our broker.The position will require approx 3-7 hour per week. 

Down the road when I'm more comfortable I can see myself going out of state, but I don't think I want to for my first experience.If I'm totally honest, I'm probably too risk-averse to make my first property(ies) outside of comfortable driving distance (max 3-4 hours), leading me to look in places like the high desert (Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley, etc) or mountain destinations like Lake Arrowhead/Big Bear. 

Sure Contractors *can* do estimates/walkthroughs, but if they don't think its going to lead to business why would they?  

Not a big national bank such as Chase, B of A, Wells Fargo, etc.Using a HELOC to fund the down payment may mess up your debt to income.

You can easily spend a couple Grand just on permit fees at least in my state lol and not pulling any permits can lead to huge fines.

Honestly you can beat your current return in all cash without debt.