How should I finance my first rental?

[Riley Greenup]

So my scenario is this: I work for a family company who is expanding, building a new office building in the town I live in. In the process they acquired a house and had it moved to a different lot so they could build the new office. They now are preparing to sell the house and it seems like it could be a great opportunity for my first rental as I already know the seller, I can see the home from my office, and I may be able to get a decent deal on it. Rentals are few and far between and highly sought-after in my town at the moment.

My trouble is this: how should I approach financing it? I have some equity in my home so I may be able to open a HELOC to leverage in the deal but also have a small chunk in savings.. is seller financing a strategy you'd use here? Or just go around shopping loans at local banks? My plan would be to rent it for a year and evaluate my situation (i.e. decide if I want to renovate and flip or keep as a long term rental)

Thanks in advance!