If you solely approach wholesaling with the mindset of, "What would someone pay me versus what can I pay for it?"

They might be flexible with down payment source as long as you can prove that you and your partners have the liquidity to close.

In my state source of income is a protected class, so I can’t deny on this fact alone.

Buyer, at Buyer’s sole discretion, may accept theplan of242 remediation, terminate this Contract, or allow the Seller to escrow one and one half (1 ½)243 times the amount of the bid or written estimate, as determined by the Buyer, of such244 environmental repair(s)at Closing.

It's a big topic and that is a great source to start with.

At this point, I don't know if I should continue looking or go for a conventional loan and buy a cheap SFH live there for a year, move out and rent it, but that would mean that I have to pay the mortgage for a whole year and that would prevent me from saving as much as possible for the next investment.Basically, my plan is to create a new source of additional income and I believe real estate is a good way to achieve that.

One source of cities to avoid is Neighborhood Scout's 100 most dangerous cities.

If you want to look at an ARV from a future potential investment value from you renting it out, then you would need to find rental comps as well as investment sales comps to go with that rent to project a value off of NOI.It's going to be hard to pull comps without some sort of data source like Costar or Crexi or Real Capital Analytics.

All of this info can be sourced from online platforms and articles, real estate investment meet-ups, and general networking with folks in the industry. 

This is going to depend on your risk tolerance and preferences, but I'm happy to provide my input..If I were in your shoes, I'd do the HELOC because of your interest in BRRRR. if you were trying to do a long term rental, I would do a cash-out refi on your primary residence. 8 years is a long time to wait to do 1 deal, so I would personally shy away from depending solely on cash flow.