I would do a HELOC or a Home Equity Loan or even do something very creative like get a new credit card with a HUGE signup bonus by meeting a minimum spend requirement.

I'm not willing to spend more of my money on a business/investment that is only building equity and no cash flow. 

Take the money you are/were going to spend on college and buy something right now, why waste 4 years of valuable RE market time?

Remember a good experienced contractor will most likely have been burnt once or twice by owners so asking them to spend only their money will make some rightfully nervous..... 

Im in school as well as working full time but I’ll be honest— living in New York is so expensive and between student loans and not being able to do overtime while in school i realized I don't want to spend my life putting hours in the hospital just to get by.

The down side is that the 5% is capped at $1500 total spend quarterly which may not be near enough depending on the scale of your business. 

Toledo is also now ranked the #2 city with the most improved parks in recent years, as the city government has been spending a lot of money to revitalize its parks. 

The capital you spend on a new roof is an investment in your asset, the money you spend fixing interior damage is just a loss.

Just NEVER tell them how much you have to spend!!

If so there are Zero Down Veterans loans you can leverage if you think it is wise to do so.[6] Maybe you look into this and decide it's not for you, and you'd rather own a 7-11 and spend your time writing checks to the soda delivery company--because despite what anyone tells you--it IS work....