As I've come to terms with this I have taken the last five months to regroup and really think about the future which brings me to my post and what I'd like to get the communities opinion on.I successfully negotiated and acquired one of my duplexes in 2017 that I nearly have paid off (note balance is $54k, property value $230k).

We only bring in about 85k-90k total and we are really frugal. 

(Had we rebuilt the original windows we would have been fine and wouldn't have had to bring them to current code.)

My plan was to purchase a lot and build a foundation, bring in a doublewide/manufactured house. have it placed on foundation and have a structural engineer reclassify it as fixed real estate. then, I would refinance. 

@Steven Catudali don't understand the value that he is bringing... those are all just items you can pay a professional for. 

Keep in mind, if you're not making money, they aren't either, so they have "skin in the game".

Maybe an investor is flipping a lot of properties and you could offer to pick up and deliver materials to his crews, clean the work sites every night, bring his crew lunch, or whatever.Find a way to make yourself useful to them, and they will reciprocate.

I would love to hear from other more experienced in the field about alternative ways to financing that I should consider besides the HELOC, maybe also hear from investors on how the process of bringing investors onboard works.

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Better to have your own cash ready or a partner who can bring in cash.