I was going to get a couple of those secured credit cards and just let them sit to start recovering credit

That raises a red flag for me suggesting that it might need a major rehab, need to be torn down, be in commercial zoning etc.

@Christopher Petersen some people invest in RE with a house of cards approach and leverage everything as much as they possibly can. 

Therefore, you'll probably be giving her the whole damage deposit (which was never really yours anyway), and you'll be able to fix up the unit and hopefully raise the rent!

What deal would be best if I raised $50k from friends and family?

Correct me if i am wrong, A HELOC is like a credit card in the means that you only pay interest on what you use. you can access it over and over again and pay it off over and over again but you don't pay interest on anything more than what you pulled out. where the cash out refinance is a loan so if you don't invest every penny into something then you are paying interest on money you aren't using.

At least in Illinois, the HELOC will not trigger a tax raise.

I’m just saving and thinking I need to raise funds and get into a larger MF as my first deal vs. messing with small deals

The downstairs unit rents for $750 per month and we were able to raise the rent 5% on the upstairs unit to $551.25 per month making the total rent for this property $1,301.25.House #3: Next we purchased another home from the same wholesaler another home in Baltimore County for $66,000 which was an eyesore and overwhelming for someone like me that has only done minor fixes up until this point.

Would this raise our Debt to income ratio and limit us to only commercial property?