If you're sure the land will appreciate on it's own, I don't see any harm in going for it, unless of course your money can perform better elsewhere, which it probably can.

You wouldn’t magically have access to hundreds of thousands of more dollars if your credit score was 20 points higher  TLDR: You aren’t being harmed at all by being 780 instead of 800+.

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

There was client bank account information in the folder and she could have done significant further harm to our business.

It might do more harm/headache than good

If you only plan on owning 2-4 properties, then there's really no harm in self-funding them unless you know a better, safer way to make more than the going interest rate on that money (most investment mortgages right now are about 7%, maybe effectively 5.5-6% after taxes depending on your brackets and tax structure).

Action in Indiana courts: suits moving forward, case files available on the court's website: https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/Search (enter Clayton Morris in the search).Complaints state plaintiffs were deceived and harmed by Morris Invest.

You might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”, since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant: https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processes

There’s no harm in making some quick profit and reinvesting.If you're thinking long-term and are okay with the more complex refinance and buy-out process, BRRRR can build your portfolio, but just be sure the cash flow and potential appreciation make it worth the hassle.

If that were the case - would there be harm?