It's obviously not a ton of money but how do you guys recommend me investing with it?

Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

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

At that point we hired an independent appraiser and the numbers came back good and the hard money lender agreed to use them.  

Alternatively, investing in money markets is another consideration.

There are less expensive hard money lenders out there. 

You can also hold money for maintenance, capex, taxes, insurance, or other projected expenses.

It should go without saying, but I do understand when you're new to real estate expectations can be out of line with reality --- if you finance 100% of a deal you will not see any money out of the deal for many years and will be putting money in for many years.

You are losing money on both properties. 

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.