I haven't yet had a bank make me pay off a HELOC like @Greg Morical but I did have them reduce the available amount of the HELOC when the market value of my home declined.  

As it stands you're looking at $500/month cash flow here.HOWEVER, if you sell it (because you lived in it for 2 of the past 5 years), your earnings will be tax free. 

Even as a working youth, I was claiming dependents so I would get more of the money I earned in my paycheck.

One of the ones I belong to charges $9 for a credit check, so may be you can reduce you costs and make your application fee more competitive to the others in your area.Around here about half have a fee and half do not. 

@Matt M.I'm from Boston, and here is my advice:First get a license and as a licensed agent you can earn a fee to facilitate the transactionIn the listing agreement:The seller can pay you the 3% and you can facillitate the lease and option "acting agent for" Seller is paying you 3%.for facilitating the lease option, and buyer can have 3% option fee to the seller directly.  

Having tenants do odd jobs, such as clean-up, grass-cutting, or landscaping as a way to reduce rent may be construed as “consideration” and potentially subject you to carrying WC insurance.

,You may get differing opinions, but much like @David Krulac said..I CONSIDER PRIVATE MONEY AS SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T LEND ON REAL ESTATE AS A BUSINESS.WHEREAS A HARD MONEY LENDER LENDS MONEY  ON RE AS A BUSINESS.Some other differences may be that you're more likely to know the private money lender personally, the rate is usually lower, they're just trying to earn a higher yield than they get elsewhere, and are funding the money themselves from their personal funds.Whereas you may not know the hard money lender, they are probably an llc/business, they are often funded specifically to make these returns, they typically have investors funding the deals looking for specific returns, etc..

(Here goes R playing his money card)V: "My goal for my first year is to earn as much as what I currently earn at this job"R: "Which is about to increase because you're getting a pay increase plus if everything goes right, you'll be getting a mid-year promotion and another huge increase *took out his calculator*, so by the end of this year, you could be making close to $100,000."

whats great is seeing rei working for a property tycoon.a mentor for flips would reduce the learning curve

I'm waiting to hear back from a real estate lawyer, but the way it was explained to me, is that this is essentially party of the selling price ($150k), but the deal is structured to reduce the state transfer taxes based on the $135k sale price, defer capital gains income into the next year for the seller (frankly, I think the 15k would not be capital gains, but I'm not sure), and reduce our monthly mortgage payments over the year.