@Lauren MerendinoI strongly believe that your chosen market should be somewhere that you can go to in person / have strong personal knowledge of / have family or a network in already.  

I'm still in the learning phase and have read about a hundred different books on FI and personal finance.Looking for any resources that might help me on my way.

If not from the person in office, then definitely from the person running against them.

HELOCs are fine, but keep in mind that you really only want to use 50 percent of less (each) of your available equity just so you aren't creating a problem that you can't solve later if the value of your personal residences fluctuates.If you both have W2 jobs though, have you looked into getting qualified together and just getting a loan, 10 percent down each?

If they've genuinely abandoned, you'll notice their clothing, personal hygiene, and things of value are all gone.

Personal Property coverage- furniture, lawnmowers, signage, etc. 

can anyone you know in person vouch for this lender? 

.: I would go HELOC for sure that would be best as others were saying the lower cost for the money changes between paying a higher rate for a personal line and typically personal lines they want a higher monthly charge as well independent from the interest rate.  

depending on where you are in NJ you might have the Lehigh Valley in PA a couple hours away, or Delaware, etc. you can go to meetups, see places in person, and start to build a network.

Are you interested in S8 because of a personal reason or you think it's the next "hot" investment idea?