You want this to be your backup plan if things take longer than anticipated, you do not want to dip into personal credit cards so i would use a heloc to help with down payment but try to keep a nice available balance on a heloc as your insurance policy. 

The second part is very personal and different for everyone. 

The loan does need to be secured by the property being improved if we are talking about a personal residence and personal itemized deductions on Schedule A.

The best way to learn about how to really invest in real estate is to read books, listen to good podcasts, and pair that with going to in-person meetups so you can see people just like you, married with 3 kids, who are making it work for them.

I personally know the person that owns the property and am close friends with him.

If you are nearby, if you have ever been a pizza delivery person, maybe deliver a pizza to the wrong house that may or may not be the one being foreclosed on so atleast you can see inside a small portion. we used to just go knock on the door some folks would actually let you look around.

what kind of investment was/is this  a little more detail may protect others if you think this person is a financial predator.  

With that said, I have personally seen a lot of activity in the last two weeks.

When all the dust settles, and the  person searching is tired and discouraged and gives up, Jerry may not have bought  a single lot, but he's made some money from the training he sold you, which was his main goal from the beginning!

I have not seen a significant difference in this area between section 8 and non-section 8 tenants, personally.