The biggest question you need to ask yourself is if you are doing this to afford a property you otherwise couldn’t afford or to save money period, that will lead to very different conclusions about where/if to buy. 

@Ryan Kelly mentions what is known as extended dwelling coverage.  

You need to minimize upfront expenses because 100% of your investment is at risk and lost if the lot is not buildable.My favorite strategy is to locate the property and tie it up for usually no more than $100 for a period of 8-12 months, analyze it myself and if I believe it to have a chance at being buildable I create a permitting plan and market the property to other investors/builders willing to take on the permitting risk.  

During this renovation period would you, as the lender, want an Actual Cash Value or Full Repair Cost policy in place?

Offering a rent-free period helps the seller stabilize, but what happens if they still can't afford rent when the time comes?

Oversimplifying it just a bit, the investor profits from:- a non-refundable option paid by the tenant-buyer which gives them the right to purchase the property within their option period- the spread between the rent paid by the investor to the property owner and the rent paid to the investor by the tenant-buyer over the life of the option- the spread between the price ultimately paid by the investor when they exercise their option with the owner and the price ultimately paid by the tenant-buyer when they exercise their option with the investorClear as mud?

I've had some investments perform better than others but section 8 rentals were the one that were most challenging to sustainably operate and my worst performers over an extended period of time.

A line of credit is adjustable rate with interest only payments that will have a "draw" period usually of 3-5 years for investment properties (usually 10 years for primary home) then will amortize over the remaining term after the draw period.

For this reason, it would be prudent to not overleverage yourself in this type of environment in order to wait and see where rates do end up falling, as there is consensus in the market we are moving into a falling rate environment, the exact timing of when rates will be falling is unknown and different scenario analysis should be added to underwriting refinance periods to be sure the project is sustainable if inflation resurges and a refinance is delayed.

This is why people are getting pissed with cold callers and your seeing very poor response/appointment/sales rates with PS data.This is what Joel Bongco has stated alsoIts absolutely true and I can go further and quantify exactly how bad the data is using my own study comparing PS to county records.I compared PS preforeclosure leads to county records across 167 counties in Texas (67), Florida (50) and California (45) by running searches for both PS ad the County recorders datbase for the period 08/01/2024 - -09/30/2024 and found thatFor TX which i measure preforeclosure leads as all lis pendens, appoinment of substititute trustee (Not a NoD but used for a similar indication) and notice of trustee filings.