@Anthony White my first recommendation was to reach out to some local investors in the "Tennessee" forum here on Bigger Pockets but I see you already have one that has responded. 

Also, fine dining kitchens are way too volatile for me ;-)I've been reading a lot of forum posts and definitely plan to seek the advice of a real estate tax advisor but maybe with all the experience floating around there, y'all could give me some food for thought in the meantime.

Welcome to being active on the forums!

These forums are a great way to gain perspectives on just about every related topic you can think of.If I were in your position, I'd certainly look at a HELOC. 

Also...check out my intro in the introduction forum for all the background to these questions.

I came across the bigger pockets podcast and 6 episodes later, I’m here on the forum looking to soak up as much information as i can.

Also, there is a "Florida" specific forum that might have some good leads for you as well. 

There are several tax experts who are active here on the forum who might be able to assist you.But first you need to decide which type of retirement account is the right fit for you: you can have a custodial self-directed IRA, or you can enhance it with the checkbook control by setting up Checkbook IRA (aka IRA owned LLC).

We have one more deal to do that will effectively wipe out all our business debt and start us on a new round of low-interest bank financing.Yesterday, going through the forums, I stumbled on a jerk who obviously enjoys putting people down, telling them they "have no clue," insisting they have no business doing what they're doing.

So for the past 2 months I've been listening to BP podcasts daily and reading blogs and forums trying to learn as much as possible (there is a lot to learn)!