I'm new to real estate investing and I'm currently trying to narrow down my search to neighborhoods where I'm likely to find cash flowing deals while avoiding high risk - very low income neighborhoods. 

But to some extent I agree with you, if one is running a business then these things need to have clear budget/requirements otherwise the risk of abuse is extremely high.

.), I need to sell the property (approaches 10% to sell a property), and I take on all the risk of unexpected events. 

He paid is rent with his savings, but he ran out of cash.He reached  out to the VA who got him in touch with the Alston Wilkes Society, a non-profit group dedicated to assisting homeless and at risk persons. 

Some of my money, some financing, father is the GC (which makes the full-gut across the continent not as scary a risk as it sounds).Spent two months wondering why no one would take our money for a house, once we figured out what worked, we suddenly realized we needed to think a little bigger (was doing it all my cash, now I'm good with some leverage).I've got a nice w2 that I'd love to dump for half the salary, if I could generate it, but I'm thinking that might be many years from now.Anyways, I'm heading to Atlanta Wednesday morning through Sunday morning. 

My main concern about keeping HELOC funds sitting in a property is the interest rate is variable and your putting cash flow at risk.  

I wanted to put this out there as a contest to ramp up responses and ideas for creative financing approaches to see who can help me in figuring how best to structure the deal to minimize my risk, increase learning opportunities during the process, and maximize returns in light of minimizing risk.

Looking for my first lot to purchase and would love the community's thoughts on the risks associated with this transaction. 

I do all of that and more expect for some of the bids a those don’t take long to get and I pretty much know what they are anyways since I do a lot of these.The risk with this is if somehow seller can’t deliver clear Title, then you are out these expenditures but that is rare.Not sure about your area, but here in Los Angeles, I can have all the plans completed and submit to B&S (building and safety) before being on Title but to actually get the project to RTI, I do need to show I am on Title or get notarized approval from seller to submit to City.I typically make my offers with closing dates of 10 Days but I love it when sellers need 30 or 60 Days to close as that saves me holding costs while I do all the plans and City submittal/clearances.

@Costin IorgulescuAs I noted, if investing in rental property will produce better results in terms of risk/reward than continuing to invest in the stock market only, then it is the right move.There is no apples-to-apples comparison between you personally investing in real estate and your IRA investing in real estate, just as comparing you investing in stocks with personal funds would also be very different from you investing in stocks with your IRA.