So I admit I come into real estate from a place of wanting to boost and secure future financial independence, not necessarily due to a love of the field itself.

Who /what is OP, what will they be buying, and how is that going to influence mortgage guidelines?

That way their credit gets a little boost and remove the foreclosure on their credit so they could move on with their lives. 

Tony, I would say that boosting your credit score is the no-brainer investment, then possibly starting a LLC and boosting your business credit (may take two years) are the best investments for now.

Assuming your improvements boost the homes value then do a cash-out refi and pay yourself back and help fund the next project.

I don't know any HMLs who are willing to take a second lien position behind a bank, nor do I know of any banks willing to take a second position behind an HML, so if you're borrowing all these funds from banks and/or HMLs the chances are it's not going to work.If that's not the case and you have 80% from something else, then trick is getting your numbers correct on the rehab/value add to boost the appraised value far enough where your "all in" costs (purchasing price + closing costs + rehab + carrying costs) are less than 80% of what you need to borrow to get all the money back out of the property. 

I've read How to Win Friends and Influence People and Never Split the Difference, so hopefully I've picked up some skills from them. 

I like the rental market in Lincoln as there are around 50,000 college students to help boost numbers and the unemployment is extremely low.

As well as give those a boost of positive vibes to help them push to get rid of their 9-5 if that is in fact their goal.

I used my credit cards to boost my cash to buy the last 2 houses cash so I can get the best deal for me.