Eviction would be the route I would take.  

I am looking at pockets of areas around Kirkwood highway, Route 13 Newcastle closer to bear which is growing and pockets of Wilmington.

If, for whatever reason, you don't want to go that route and don't have enough to buy a 5 or 10 unit building, then syndication is one route. 

I bet it’s less than 1/2 the cost of solar to go this route.

Thanks for your revert, @Nicolas Coulter - Apparently we do not prefer going the HELOC route and were hoping if there are other options out there?

I am not saying you shouldn't seek labor only contractors, If you do go that route you will save money but be prepared for some headache & micromanagement.In general a competent GC will require control of all aspects of the project as to insure conformance to Quality, Timeline & Budget.

We didn't end up going this route on our remodel, but there were 2 designers we talked to who do everything virtually which saves a ton on costs.

You said you could go the conventional route and try to get the maximum a bank will let you get on a cash out, however there's different stipulations with a bank cash out refi than a HML. 

Ive been looking into housing/duplexes among other things and was hoping to get someone more expiernced to give me some advice on what would we be a good route to take or if I should wait. 

Everything is talking about the regular "get a mortgage buy a house wait for market to drop wait for rates to go down" which is totally fine and normal (and mostly how I make money as a realtor) but there are way more ways to buy than just that route!!