If you do get stuck with it and your tenants don't pay you back, you could withhold it from their security deposit (assuming you gave them a copy of the rules when they signed their lease and incorporated them into the lease).

If you get this house or not you will defiantly save the heartache in the future knowing you can secure a loan.  

I'm not an attorney, please seek the advice of an attorney about security/funding laws.

If you take a line of credit secured against another asset then you're essentially buying for cash.  

A POF from a convential lender means you have passed the lender's credit and income criteria, and if the property appraises high enough, with no title issues, financing will be available.Since hard money lenders place much more emphasis on the property securing the loan, the POF letter ranges from significantly less reliable as compared to a letter from a conventional lender, to outright worthless (some hard money lenders provide a form and you fill in the blanks, i.e. no real approval).

Maybe it gives me a false sense of security?  

They must secure the home and be the party responsible, not sure you want to take on that risk, with no safety net.

We have a very nice duplex there in a "good" part of the 19th Ward and had a very difficult time renting it to a qualified tenant (someone who didn't smoke, without evictions, could pay a security deposit, etc), let alone a student.

@Nick RudolphThe Wall Street Journal lists alphabetically all publicly traded securities.

@Johnathan MathewsI have a contact based here in Ontario.I can put you in touch with her if you would like, she sets up cross border deals for Canadian looking to invest in the U.S and would have all the necessary information regarding taxes, returns and so forth.