Locally, (I also live in Matthews) I would encourage you to visit many of the meetups as some good ones have already been mentioned.

Can you please mention a few major differences in residential and commercial financing?

I'll research some of the areas you mentioned, thanks for the help man

As mentioned above you want to work within your field of study or you are going to find it tough to get a mortgage without 2 years of work history.

Just as a minor rule (and of course please check with your local laws and how it applies in this case).Everytime, i run into an issue with a tenant (regardless if it is minor or major one), i try to add a clause for it in the lease; so it it then mentionned in the lease they sign next time.I hope this tip helps some folks here.Best,Taoufik

Originally posted by @Tom Gimer:@Patrick MartoneIf you refi out of your HELOC, your line of credit will be closed and you will no longer have access to it.If you have a bunch of equity in the subject property, you could ask the bank to increase the line OR or you could get a new first and at the same time pay down and subordinate the HELOC.Hmm,  I'll have to double check, but the fine print mentioned something about getting up to 3 fixed-rate loans. it seems common across different institutions.

If these are just nail-size holes (since you mentioned "nail holes in the walls"), then that usually falls under normal wear and tear. 

In other words, I attempt to follow advice similar to what @Michele Fischer mentions above, You're goal is to be firm that any old pet can not be emotional to avoid fees, but you don't want be the next court case.

Do not confuse Business Start Up Expenses (the $5000 you mention) with the cost to renovate a property. 

Bottom line is not all that glamorous but pays the bills.I think your idea is great, it requires skill to put together a spec build, design, and sell, not to mention finding the right deal will also be a challenge, the good thing about it is there is less risk of the unforeseen factor aka surprise expense.