not worth it, so even with dead equity you're just fine. 

Curious what BP thinks

My main concerns about Florida include: Chinese Drywall (very toxic; found in older homes); HOA Restrictions; Lots of people/crowds; sinkholes (properties sinking into the ground); Red tide (dead fish found on beaches due to algae bloom); Homeowners Insurance costs (w/older roofs); Mold; Hurricanes/Flooding , New construction (not always built to quality)... these are the most common issues found in the Florida market.What zip codes would you recommend for a single family investment property under 300k to mitigate these concerns? 

But the seller simply goes to a different title company and closes with them and leaves your contract and EM setting at the original title company. and after some months that title company will want some resolution to the dead file and if nothing is done they will inter plead the EM to the court for disposition.

If you're dead set against a refi there are investment HELOC and HELOAN options, but they carry a higher risk and therefore a higher rate being in second position (likely in the neighborhood of 11%+). 

The differences are these:1 - Equity is dead until you access it, when it becomes cash...the same cash that you originally had before you transferred it into equity. 

In theory, the lot is "free" - although there are most definitely costs involved in the process and I have seen comments about this that are dead-on: you don't get a break just because you are building a small house.

Research is slow -- turns out the owner of record has been dead for 20 years -- but I eventually identify 5 people I think might have reasonable claim to the lot (if they hadn't stopped paying the property taxes 8 years earlier) - four grandchildren, and the estate executor of the only son who survived the owner of record. 

If you know there is a reverse mortgage, it would help to ask about the parameters right away so you don't waste time beating a dead horse.

They have funky requirements that, no matter how petty they may seem, would stop a transaction dead in its tracks.