In the end I decided to close on the HELOC anyways, but it was a good learning experience and the next time I do it (probably within the next 6 months on a foreclosure I just bought as a personal residence) I'll be sure to do a lot more shopping around.I think your best bet is to look for a local portfolio lender as mentioned above and if you're not ready to pay the prevailing rates for that kind of money consider going back to work full-time for a few more years as you complete a few more deals and build up your track record with the intent to find private partners etc.

You did an excellent job, but I bet 99.9% of first flips go OVER the original budget. 

I've tried the Googlenet but seem to only find realtor sites and MLS listings versus real market data.Thanks in advance for the insight,Dave

I'll bet that the Federal Government has probably spent millions of dollars in research and determined that people will continue to die owning real estate and leaving money messes for their heirs to clean up.

Jonathan Gregori don't know where I got $160K; sorry about that.It appears your not getting any discount versus FMV with your purchase.

I was generally speaking to financing versus cash in general, but definitely test the waters first.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/08/24/real-estate-agents-working-with-investors/I just sent her an email inviting her to lunch, and you can bet I'll be encouraging her to sign up with BP AND providing her this link.  

I bet if you find the right partner this can be very lucrative mutually! 

I think my best bet is to just send it to collections as you suggested.

I'll bet she doesn't have the money to send the security deposits to you.