@Ramona Beyer,I agree with @Dani Beit-Or reply, the numbers make this a good deal, but however you have other due diligence that comes into effect to see if you should buy it (Location, Vacancy, type of tenants, etc) if you like what you diligence finds, then buy it.Now for your second question, i think determines what your interest rates are for you HELOC, if you would get better rates with a mortgage go with the refinance, also if your able to put some equity in the property you might look into a BRRRR methodCheers,Anthony

I informed the mortgage company in advance, and they didn't seem to have an issue with it.

house built in 1984. Pretty decent overall metrics on my offer of about $139k which would rent for about $1,400However, after inspection, it probably needs $3,000 of capex and with a foundation inspection it needs at ...

I would prefer private lenders but they can be difficult to locate, and so I'm looking at hard money.

Sure.Here's how I would put it together if we're claiming primary residence..... get a very well drawn out letter of explanation probably involving her office or location of work being near the subject property and have the employer document the request to be closer to work so the story flows and is plausible in the mind of an UW.Now if you're going to put down 10% anyway you could just structure it as a second home purchase as second homes can be purchased with as low as 10% down up to a max of 417k loan amount in most parts of the country and especially so in Los angeles, Orange county, San Bernardino, and Riverside, and Ventura counties surrounding you.

I went down to the base and talked to the location assistance office to see if they would pass out my cards to new members coming in or leaving and they told me i could join the wall and pointed over at a wall with flyers and business cards all over it.. there must have been like 50 different realtors pinned to the wall.. so i went down the store and bought a 25 card holder and attached it to the wall and filled it with my cards, about 2 weeks ago i was on base seeing a friend who lives on base in the base housing and decided to knock a few doors to offer assistance in maybe moving off base in the future and the MP's came after about 15 minutes of me knocking doors to let me know the base has strict policies against it... 

I think it's all area and location dependent.

What location lady are you looking into?

@Chris MasonI have not had any issues with that because for all intents and purposes, it is a regular rental regardless of how old the people living there are and the insurance company doesn't need to know who I am marketing the rental to.  

***Additionally, a mortgage broker that is able to take a tenant-buyer's option consideration that is paid to me (wholesale lease option deal), and either apply that consideration towards the TB's down payment when the exercise their right to purchase ORdiscount the price of the house.Typically the consideration goes through a third-party escrow account (my attorney's), and that helps with the above.Typically mortgage brokers who understand this type of situation will only submit financing applications to banks they have great relationships and won't have an issue with this type of thing.Thanks in advance!!