It is a very unique property.

Disadvantage - maintenance having to paint every 7-10 years Vinyl:Advantage - easy to clean, durable without much maintenance (can last 25-30 years)Disadvantage - can make an otherwise unique property look cheap/generic, more expensive, hard to match if section gets destroyed I think it depends on your hold period, the house itself, and the neighboring houses.  

The bank will need to know the terms of the repayment as informal as the transaction maybe if you get it from a relative, etc.

Maybe he inherited the properties or maybe he is in hot pursuit of an early retirement, feel him out it may open a unique opportunity or be a dead end.

If the HELOC is fixed at 2.45, then that's perfectly fine to do, as long as you've considered any tax implications and review the details of your HELOC to make sure it's duration and the details of the ultimate transition to an amortized loan/whatever work for your repayment timeline.

I don't have a lot of cash, so I am attracted to the price range of condos vs other housing.Besides HOA, what are considerations that are unique to condos?

I’m not sure this is unique to real estate investing.

I’d recommend doing a loan if your plan permits it and repaying it back to yourself.

There will be unique management issues, but they are definitely more efficient investment vehicles than SFH.

When you are looking for a mentor in REI or wholesale, you have to bring a skillset or something unique to the table that can help them in exchange for their mentorship.