If you don't meet that 12 month seasoning requirement and/or want to hold the property under an LLC, a debt service loan may be a better option.

And keeps you out of any trouble with debt.

After doing research on the market (see above noted indicators) and creating an investor deck (mainly to prove to  myself as the main capital provider.

We already paid them a pretty sizeable entry fee ($30k) to cover some of their equity and debt in another project.

The other main way I did it was by just telling people that I invest and kind of just talking about it all the time.

If I were in the shoes of the LP, I would want to see you invest capital alongside and source true bank debt rather than hard money.

@Cole Starin What type of take out financing did you line up to payoff the private money and get into long term perm debt? 

I thought there was a chance that one could use real estate to directly lower their main source of taxable income (such as a w2).

Helps with your debt to income, better opportunities at cash flow, and typically requires less down to purchase.In regards to challenges, I usually build in an extra 10-15% to deal with things that I can't see behind the walls, including dry rot, electrical or plumbing issues, etc.

Regarding the HELOC question, consider the interest rate on the debt.