What are some of the ways you guys have secured private money loans, and how has it worked for you?

Banks do not typically look down on HELOCs as they are secured funds.

Recently spoke with a For Sale By Owner who has a multi family 3 unit listed. He mentioned being open to creative financing, but he owes 200k on his mortgage. House worth $360k, for sale at $400k.Total monthly rent br...

@Doug W. I

Asset protection,Reside in CA, and read about RE investors having the option to start a LLC in NV that's within a trust and also purchase an umbrella personal liability insurance policy (upwards of a $1m - 2m+), to give aspiring RE Investor the proper business structure, security and protection in case of the inevitable lawsuit and/or other costs of doing business. 

And if you aren't looking at multifamily how are you using a VA loan to secure a investment property, I thought VA loans had to be used on a primary residence? 

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

Two years of renting the property with P&L for these years.If your property gross income $1K/mo - they will use $500/mo as your incomeIf it's cash flow $1K/mo, then you talk to your loan officer and get specifics.Also, they can use your bank statements for a year but it's more expensive if you're trying to secure mortgage on your primary residence.If you're getting credit line for business, there will be different qualifications but generally, bank will discount that income (considering that it might get vacant, or vandalized or whatever)

@Christopher Petersen unless we have negative population growth there will be at least as many people as there are now, and if we did have negative population growth it would have a much larger impact on things like Social Security than RE. 

I received the tenant's security deposit at closing.