@Bobby Short

Conveniently located just minutes from the interstate, this home offers an easy commute to Bangor and Newport, while Etna Pond and its public boat launch are just a short drive away.

Short term leverage inherently increases our risk. 

Ultimately, the decision should align with your long-term and short-term goals.

Give me a shout if you have questions, but here's the short of it.Best financing is going to be from a bank or a conventional construction loan.

If I have several options, I would prefer a HELOC with no initial draw requirements (i.e. to establish a literal line of credit that I have no specific short term plans to use), i.e. not something like the better.com HELOC. 

That's right and wrong.There's a housing short, where it counts.

@Shawn Questa I agree with you that there could be some opportunity here, but personally, with that little equity in the property, I'd wait for the pre-foreclosure process to start and  perhaps you can do a short sale (though I don't know the details on how that's handled in TX).

And don’t sell yourself short—getting started as a bird dog is a smart move.

Needless to say we were pretty disappointed, so shortly after that another student reached out to us and told us that Ryan and Tyler had agreed to sponsor them 4 different times and backed out of each one causing the students to lose earnest money.