Find a faith community that welcomes you - and I'd bet that all will. 

Your best bet is to try areas outside of the 285 perimeter or go direct to seller.

I'd bet there is and therefore there is no 'housing shortage'.

A HELOC interest rate will adjust will with the market and that seems extremely risky to me currently + you're leverage is your home if you don't pay it back or things go south.

Contractor should have given you a change order with adjusted prices given the encountered obstacles and given you an approximate price of what the plumbing and electrical will costs.

She is a fantastic estates and probate attorney here in town and I bet she can help save the deal and get you what you need.

These number include all utilities so you’ll need to adjust them down $100 or so if tenants pay separate utilities and of course take them with a grain of salt and run real comps when your looking to put in an offer.

If your goals are cash flow only (as in you want mail box money to live off of), then finding that cash flow market would be your best bet.

Figure out your strategy, plan a course of action, and go for it, evaluate, adjust if needed and keep moving forward.

Off-market is likely your better bet.