I know that I need to look around for banks / credit unions that offer this type of HELOC, but I'm concerned about income verification since I want to leave my job / switch jobs this year.

30 year fixed, no income verification on commercial os available but yoire looking at mid 7's on rate.

I use the checks as a verification of everything they said - I’ve already decided on them (as long as the checks come back clean)I do realize that I’m renting to B/A class tenants, so your mileage may vary if you’re in the B-/C range.

It costs a mere $1.00 to validate your identity and you'll get all kinds of discount coupons in the mail that more than make up for the petty expense. 

Tenant(s) Government Issued ID: typically, this will be a driver’s license to prove the identity of the tenant(s).

The trustee of the land trust controls the trust and property, but the beneficiary is the real owner, even though the public does not know the identity of the beneficiary.

Like Mike said, if you put big money down to "force" the cash flow you haven't changed a bad deal into a good one.At one time I owned a house in the SF Bay area, paid about $40K for it in '77, the guy that owned the house 3 doors up had bought his (identical house) in IIRC about '81 or so for $80K.

Had an identical offer from someone else.

Ask for the seller to obtain a zoning verification letter from the city stating that the use is conforming and that there are no known zoning violations associated with the property.

No income verification and it can close in an LLC.Rates are higher but they close easy.