Need YOUR help: Best way to find a property for a worker subject to layoffs with average credit?

[Adam Henson]

My woman is going to be looking for a house and I hope to be helpful to her. . . I will certainly need to be advised as I advise her!

She works at an aircraft plant in Wichita Kansas and earns a respectable "wage" of $20/hr. After the government gets done with her she "takes home" about $2050

Obviously this is not a billion dollars, but, I don't see why she cannot afford some kind of a home. We're out in the middle of kansas!

The goal is to find a home for her and her two kids and I've told her that she should work hard to find a deal on a property. I'd like her to be able to immediately open a HELOC on it in case she's laid off.

Layoffs happen in aircraft. You enjoy some unemployment benefits but they can run out. I would love to see her able to make use of a HELOC as an absolute last resort rather than ending up like alot of them living on credit cards until they end up so far in the hole they're doomed.

The only problem here is that she's not very open to buying a rehab and I am not too well versed on finding financing for a rehab project. What's more, I don't even know where to find a loan these days. ( See http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/110-seeking-financing-money-or-loans/topics/27100-single-mother-4-years-out-of-divorce- )

So, what is the story here?
What are some good coherent ways to find a decent property at a discounted price? I've already told her that in order to find a deal you've got to be willing to spend TIME out there and to be pre-approved.

I thought that maybe we could find someone facing a foreclosure, someone with some considerable equity, and slide in that way?
I thought that maybe we could do a land contract for a nice low price on a cosmetic rehab?