You can have it rekeyed to match the existing one, or make sure your tenants get keys before you change it.2.

I say that because I'm a Realtor and also an investor, so I know we exist.

i have a real estate agent who is an investor who advised me to buy brand new homes ( i live in Louisiana) as there prices is cheaper and it appreciate faster and he has 7 of these. i'm not sure if that advise is valid or not and what i should do.all insight on how to find deals etc is highly appreciated and i have no clue about marketing as well.my main concern is that i want to start with 100K home 20K down payment maybe 150K home but i do not have a lot of cash to do a rehab i thought about HUD homes but i don't know if they are good deals or not, and i don't want to risk so much which my current finances as well multifamily homes almost do not exist in Louisiana as per my research and i can be greatly mistaken. so i'm thinking single family home or multi unit in a close by state with reasonable homes prices 100K-150K or cheaperall help and advises is appreciatedThank youMJ

Most street level investors couldn't handle a HELOC with it's capital commitments.  

Wholesaling formula is 70% of after repair value minus repairs minus your feeYou might consider doing a joint venture with the seller where you buy subject to the existing financing, use private money for the repairs, give them a note for their equity after you subtract real estate commissions and closing costs repairs and your fee of 10,000

Yes, that's part of our "taking possession" checklist when we close on a new property with existing holding tanks.Because energy efficiency is part of our {self-imposed} mandate we frequently experiment with new ideas during major retrofits (hence the solar thermal DHW with in-line heaters for the final lift).  

I can't express how appreciative I am that a platform like this exists.

Los Angeles $70 sq ft for rehabbing existing space.

Forget about grants, they practically do not exist for investing.Once you have some basic knowledge of how it all works and start getting to know people who are doing what you understand and decide for yourself that you want to do, then you are ready to start. 

The long term strategy is based on buy and hold, but will flip existing property when it makes sense.