First timer in search of creative options

[Tiffany Fisher]

I am not in the business of investing in property. However, a piece of property next door to me is up for sale and I need to purchase it in order to prevent the downturn of my own property values while hopefully making some money down the road. The purchase price is at 280k for 15+ acres and a 4 bedroom 2 bath house that is in a horrible state. My realtor's idea is to purchase the property, put enough in the house to get it livable and rent it out to cover all or most of my mortgage. Then down the road split up the property which includes a beautiful lake, tear down the old house, and sell it off as high end lots with a private lake. I have about 350k equity in my own home so my initial thought was to take out a HELOC. Then I realized that my loan is already considered a home equity loan. You can only have one at a time in Texas. While I could refi my property, I am sitting on a lovely rate of 2.75% on 150k. Would hate to lose that. Any ideas for a newbie? I would love to do this thing without little cash out of pocket. This area is growing in leaps and bounds and I'm hoping I wouldn't need to hold the property for more than 5 years. Thanks for any ideas!