Recently sold comps are what you use.The Heloc will produce the same result.  80% of property value minus amount you still owe (80% x $600K = $480K - $477K = $3K).Therefore, currently your best option would be a LOC.As for your last question I think I already answered it.I agree that the refi may not be his best option for cash out re-finance purposes for the reasons illustrated, however it may still be worth while if he is able to get his rate and payments down significantly from the FHA rate he is currently paying.

They likely bought the house for the purpose of hanging on to it for 15 years or longer. 

Simplified Scenario for example purposes:1) Sell for $700K with Mortgage of $300K2) Buy 1 property for $300K and $100K down3) Buy 2nd property for $300K and $100K down4) After fees it nets me $100K cash that I take outResult: I cover my minimum mortgage threshold by $100K but I fall $100K shy of Minimum Purchase Price AND I take out $100K in cash.

I'm a practicing attorney myself, but I purposely avoid handling a lot of real estate transactions (ironic, isn't it?)

So, for example, if you want to donate land to a church you can do so on the condition that the church will only use the land for religious purposes, and if they don't then the land goes back to you.

Usually these Gurus teach you to essentially lie to the broker/realtor about your true purpose of assigning the contract.

This might not seem like much, but I plan on re-purposing the account for my venture and will be trying to grow it to 30,000 followers by the time I'm ready to hit the ground running.

It looks to me that although you are trying to do this for tax purposes, it can easily bite you like an alligator.  

May also have issues with cast iron plumbing lines, parts of the house are knob and tube electrical which has been hacked over the years...  

Although there are ways to start investing in the Israeli market without \ with low amount of money, it doesn't worth it, and the ROI you can get in the U.S market is much higher.This comment is true also to the U.S market - there are more expensive places than others, and there are places with higher ROI than others, its just a question of where.I am investing in Pittsburgh, PA - prices are pretty low , where you can get good rental property with a solid passive income for about 250,000 NIS, with something around 10% ROI after deducting all kind of expenses, like local taxes, management comapany fees, insurance, etc.Send me a PM so we can share phone numbers to continue and talk - I can share with you some of my experience and help you learn and get started.Also you can look at the local Israeli meetup I have started for this purpose  - sharing, learning and helping one another.