If you do invest the IRA in notes, it is generally best that the note is secured vs unsecured so that the IRA's interest is protected.

So you don’t want to touch unsecured money.

So you don’t want to touch unsecured money.

Or a person that can possibly approve me for an unsecured line of credit.

The main difference being that one is leveraged and one is unleveraged.

The difference this time will be a consumer unsecured credit/inflation recession.

In the past, I've also had good success with SunTrust for very low cost unsecured lines of credit.  

I have nothing more to add to what you already know or Joe has said except that I wouldn't let sellers dip into the security deposit for two reasons: First, you now have an unsecured unit and even if (s)he's a model tenant, when (s)he moves out you're going to eat a cost that you could/should have been able to pass on.

Unless you are just using the term mortgage colloquially and you really mean just an unsecured loan.

Also here are a few "never do's" to help you understand the risk: Never do deal if the property can’t be valued properly (no comps no deal)Never do a deal without a third-party escrow Never assume the third-party vendors will not make a mistake (deals take longer then planned, watch out for scope creep)Never do a deal without property insurance Never do a deal on owner-occupied (there are laws that can get you in trouble here)Never do an unsecured loan