As others always say every market offers an investable moment it's just important to be aware of current and historical data.

I know there are Historical Tax Credits, LIHTC, NMTC to name a few. 

everything being equal its a great time  to leave the rental pool and become a home owner and lock in these historic low rates and secure your future..

Historically appreciation occurs over time, but remember you do have markets where appreciation is flat.  

Contact the utility provider and get an historical average based on the last year of use.

However, housing prices continue to increase and historically will go up.

Historically though- most people don't maintain books clean enough for an LLC to be the most useful for asset protection

HELOC wise, BECU has historically been a good friend of local investors.

House went under contract in 5 days and the lack of paying the full 6% commission allowed me to offer buyer’s agent an increased 4% fee, which understandable was quite attractive from the buyer side and unlocked 12 showings in 5 days in a historically slow area.On the buyer’s side I put an offer in using standard state real estate forms only to find out that seller’s agent takes the full 6% anyway. 

Appraisal and proof of how it affords conservation and benefits the nature/etc will be what is important.In other words you actually have to be giving something up, right to build on that land or even use of the land entirely in some cases.There are also historical rehabilitation credits you should look into.