Make clear plans, use no-cost tools, study areas, spot deals, and move forward.

Unfortunately due to personal reasons, I was not able to attend the event.

But I guess a lot of you seem to think that extra cost is negligible if I am refinancing anyway.

Property prices are very high in this region, and it seems unlikely that rental properties will generate positive cash flow due to the high cost of homes and current high interest rates.

Moreover, the typical listed home price has grown by 37.5% compared with May 2019, but the price per square foot grew by 52.7%.While the typical home for sale is listed at a similar price to last year, higher mortgage rates compared with last May still increased the monthly cost of financing 80% of the median home by roughly $158 (7.1%) compared with a year ago.

ATLANTA, GA, HUNTSVILLE, AL & BIRMINGHAM, NASHVILLE, TN, JACKSONVILLE, FL , INDIANA AND KANSAS FOR SOME REASON I mostly focus on fix and flips and wholesale deals.

Can someone else recommend a similar low cost product that will hold up better in rentals, that looks like hardwood-ish?

Every item has a lifespan and collecting maintenance/replacement costs should start as soon as an item is put into service.There are lenders that will provide HELOC on rental properties but they are not extremely easy to find.  

They cover too large an area and will lead to you either getting take advantage of or making a costly mistake:(Investing in the City of Deroit should actually be done block-by-block.

The cost to start investing in Ohio was much cheaper here than back east.