He would either put up all the capital for the purchase & renovation, or he would provide the initial capital and the additional financing. 

I am continuing to shop around, but wasn’t sure if anyone had some initial tips.

I got my initial disclosure paperwork today and was shocked to find out that my closing cost were gonna be roughly 5,000 dollars!

That's pretty spot on what the market is currently charging. 

Illinois, Ohio lead the ‘charge’, besides Texas, but Texas is a completely different game.I don’t need to touch the stove if I know it’s hot.  ;-)

Should I be refinancing to just cover my total project costs to pay back my heloc and other initial costs? 

Hard money lenders will have rates from 10%-14% BUT they will also charge anywhere from 1% - 3% in fees too. 

Also, as somebody who has read all of the initial complaints from the lawsuits listed in the other post, the first one goes back to 2012! 

Or do you think, just take that initial plunge for the live-in flip and don't look back?

Based off the P&L, the potential income when fully rented out is about $248k/year but the last couple years his income was around $230-235k including charging $75/month to each tenant for water and trash.