When my business partner and I were still flipping we bought a couple through Auction.com and we always used a private money lender to fund those and our other flips. 

Sure it does. but depending on who the celebrity is/was.....That's why so many little hotels, boarding houses, vacation rentals, etc..... feature this in their advertising.And in some cases, you will not get more money, but you will get more guests.A little while ago, I went to Tombstone AZ and stayed in 'The first boarding house in Tombstone'....really cool place but kinda small and, well....old feeling.

Even if you break even, you will lose money every month it sits vacant, when you need repairs, property management, etc.

The six month cd isn’t the point my understanding is that I can’t just take out the HELOC, I need to actually use the money for my plan to work and a short term CD seemed safe and reasonable 

If they aren't charging a pre-disclosed & agreed upon Markup - they are probably hiding something to make money for their time.Good luck!

funds only go into interpleader after months of sitting in escrow. the court just does not hand the money to the seller either.. if not agreed upon the funds go to the state etc.

They are looking for "who is making how much money under what circumstances".

Risk goes hand in hand with the amount of money you stand to make.  

I was able to get my money back in using business line of credit without touching or doing anything to the property.

Unfortunately almost every franchise involves renting the occupied space when the property would have made more money than the business.