They usually require that you pay for all plans and permit fees and have foundation in before you receive your first draw so the fact that these items seem to be in place already might make it easier for you. 

It seems that the sellers (there's six of 'em, btw) are having trouble getting them out.  

It would seem to me (correct me if I'm wrong) that it's not going to come close to cash flowing overall. 

My first interest seems to navigate toward flipping homes. 

Came across a few places that seemed interesting there at first glance, but need to crunch numbers further. 

It took me what seemed like an eternity to find a property in the area with low enough property taxes to make the deal work.

If I were already making money, I'd definitely go for it but it doesn't seem to make sense financially right now.  

You are however seem to be missing a big part of your education and that is meeting with other local investors.

I know I will have to pay incomes taxes as apart of this conversion, but I've been doing some reading and can't seem to understand if I will also be hit with additional taxes as a result of something called "pro-rata rule".

In addition, those terms seems too good to be true for a legitimate HML.We have funded many deals in NJ and we are local, I'm sure we can fund your deal if you want to work with someone local.