Hi Quinton,This may or may not be applicable to you, but if by "unemployed" you mean "on temporary disability, but my job is waiting for me when I get better, and we have an estimated return to work date," than this would be a scenario where ADA trumps ATR and you can still get a traditional mortgage.Fannie guideline on long-term/permanent disability, on social security disability, and on what may be applicable to you: "temporary leave income," which includes short term medical disabilities.For that last one:Just like women/men on maternity/paternity/pregnant leave, a gap between temporarily reduced income due to medical condition, and your normal income, can be made up for using asset depletion.

For me, I look for an ROI of at least 10-15% annually on my tied up funds before even considering a deal. 

Our downtown area has had a huge revamp, we're one of the hottest destinations for college-educated millennials (which is great for the economy and future population growth), and our unemployment rate has been dropping steadily, https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LAUMT0113820000000...One of our team members worked up a pretty comprehensive report with some great stats on this market, so anyone can feel free to reach out via DM and I'll shoot it over, or you can download it for free over at Keith Weinhold's awesome site, Get Rich Education: http://www.getricheducation.com/project/117-birmin...

If I were to take equity out in the form of a cash out, I would be paying another mortgage with no immediate deal to put it to use on, effectively losing me money.I hope this helps!  

I downloaded it but wasn't sure how to use it or if anyone else had used it on BiggerPockets?

@Adrien S. thank you - that's great advice and cleared up the muddy waters for me. 

@Sean Ryan If I understand the land contract correctly, it's just a form of owner financing and while it might keep the lot in your friend's name while the buyer pays it off, it will still go out of his name once the buyer fulfills the contract and owns the land.  

Which road would be the best for me?

New to business and looking to form a network here in Buffalo if there isn't one already.  

There's an opportunity for me to purchase the business and want to know what I should be looking at, this is my first restaurant investment.