Our credit is pretty strong, we only have about 7k cash on hand, and we screwed ourselves into a good bit of debt.

Hi Everyone,I’m looking into applying for a fixed rate HELOC and was wondering if anyone has any recommendation on which bank or credit union I should focus on?

Then I guess he will have to decide if he’d like to keep his credit score or have a judgment against him.

They agreed to try to find something to buy but my father doesnt have an amazing credit score like me or my brother, plus he is unemployed so he wont get a mortgage.I told my brother that he has to be the one getting the mortgage because I have plan of starting my real estate investing career in January (buying a duplex) so I cant have a mortagage like that on my name because my debt to income ratio will be high.

It's called Debt Service Credit Ratio.

When looking at real estate all assets classified as 15 year land improvements and 5 or 7 year personal property qualify for 100% bonus depreciation, meaning you can deduct their entire cost in year 1 instead of spreading that deduction out over 5, 7 or 15 years.

I'd like to meet the guy who came up with these % rules....Your capex ("major improvements") budget is a function of the age, the condition and the replacement value of them home.

As of now i am working on building my credit , since i do not have my own money to invest.

Based on my credit, income, and a few documents I had to provide they were able to get me the money in 5 business days. 

If it's an SFR you could technically get a HomeStyle reno loan on it, but that would be a lot of closing costs and other nonsense just for an extra $5k.I'd suggest credit cards or other unsecured borrowed funds -- get it done quick and sell it quick to pay it off. 2nd best might be some sort of equity deal with another investor who has $5k to invest.