Understanding each area will vary, what would be the average or reasonable amount of investment per unit for budget considerations?

Try calling Navy Federal Credit Union. 

The prices vary from $550 to $2K depending on the coverage. 

Credit is not great and funds are not there yet but hopefully going into 2019 I’ll be ready to purchase my first home through an FHA loan.

Property in question is a mixed use investment property, not owner-occupied.Good credit score.Old property.High cap rate.

Look at your rents and run scenarios for varying scale of market softness...can you still cover you expense?

Conventional financing has very specific rules to follow and falsifying information on the application to get a better interest rate or to qualify and then subsequently closing on the property is a really big deal.There are loans out there that do not require seasoning of funds, would allow your friend the investor to not be on the loan (or be on the loan if he/she wants depending on credit), but it's not a conventional loan and the interest rates are not conventional interest rates.  

Although there is concern about China's economy, I don't know know if there is a free fall scenario because the average consumer in China uses a lot less credit that the average US/Canada consumer.

For scenario two, your gonna get a loan and a line of credit, then refi once its done , and then sell?

Does anyone know of any lenders that will look at an equity loan / line of credit on a personal storage garage?