everyone wants the distressed assets you're trying to find.the short answer to your questions is: start going to lots and lots of meetups and network in person.i would also think about house hacking as soon as you can. 

The answer to this will come down to comfort level, funds available, and strategy you are looking to implement. 

Simple answer - yes you can alter your funding source after putting it under agreement if you chose to use a hard money lender instead - i would just communicate with seller that hey I was going to use cash (assuming you have it from your heloc) and instead will finance some of it but let them know its not contingent on financing.

Happy to connect and answer any questions you have regarding Columbus Ohio!

Localized knowledge for an agent or investor is needed to answer most of these questions.

I am unable to find anything giving me a for sure answer.

Thank you for your answer.

The most common answer, especially in recent times, is highly levered, floating rate debt.This is not the only answer, by any means. 

If people took the five minutes to complete it they would not need to be asking and searching the internet for their answers. 

With that being said, in order to make the right decision the answer is in the math of the blended rate.