With your own capital and access to other individuals you know well that have capital you could start that way..

Did your son roll his eyes?

I wanted to see if anyone is using this strategy, what is the good and bad to it and what has your experiences with it been?

Hey Bans, If I were in your shoes I'd take the ARM.

If you’re in the fix-and-flip game, you know that securing the right funding can make or break your project.

Happy to send those resources your way and/or chat about pros and cons of going out of state vs staying in your back yard.

None of your "solutions' pave a way for actually purchasing the property. 

We own a single-family rental property with a spacious yard and an external garage that needs to be demolished.

Your insight into a particular market, combined with the expertise of your partners, will be far more advantageous than simply following trends.

In my experience trying to raise capital from people within the real estate community doesn't seem to be the best method because most people in real estate are more interested in building their own businesses, rather than investing in someone elses (especially when considering how much money it takes to invest in syndications).