Unfortunately, I canceled about a month in when I realized the scam.I signed the contract in good faith and tried to dispute it with my credit card company, but they lied to the credit card company, showing them only the first contract I signed.

This is not a one size fits all answer, but bad debt is non-asset based or depreciating assets - , credit cards, medical, buying dumb stuff.Good debt is debt used to make or grow your portfolio. 

They are highly secretive however - no online presence under their names while being very tech-advanced, they also installed like seven cameras around the house perimeter.

How affective are physical mail cards with deal machine?

You should never use a debit card or pay for medical expenses from your HSA, ever!

I haven't spoken to the county yet, but will make that phone call today.As far as financing -- I was leaning more towards getting a business line of credit or using a business credit card and rolling it over to interest free cards.

Green card/Student/etc etc permits/visa. 

Let them pay the deposit with a credit card.

(This assumes you have a credit card available to pay for any repairs.).

If you do not have a US citizenship/green card, there are some complications investing especially financing so it's really important to do research.