I'm now finally here in person, and have started to go view places in person with the intent of purchasing. 

They decided to go on their own instead.

So yes, apparently sometimes you do have to go behind the brokers back to get things done when they are trying to block or delay things. 

Happy to go through some details on that though if that would be helpful!

I would be happy to go over pros an cons with you. 

If you do buy a pre foreclosure and follow all the rules and sell within 36 months any profit 80% has to go back to the original owner  who was in foreclosure.Since I made living doing foreclosure rescue prior to this . the new laws removed that activity from my business..

I know there are a lot of professionals in the suburb that I am looking that need a place to meet clients but don't necessarily want to go to their downtown offices regularly.

I think the HELOC is the way to go if you can - However after reading your post, if you are talking about a 6 figure pay day, how long would the property take to generate that 6 figures in cash flow?

Typically my analogy is something like: if you're in a happy relationship, you're not going to go looking and see if the grass is greener on the other side... so for you what is it you're really looking for?

Unfortunately, the only way to go about this is the get the property rezoned and convince the zoning board of your proposed use.