Ready to Start Investing, then COVID19

[Keith W.]

I started preparing for diving into real estate investing since last September. Learning as much as I can and figuring a strategy to get start-up funds. I decided to cashout refinance my home in order to have funds to cover the following:

The downpayment required by the hard money lender

The money to start construction before the first draw

Carrying cost including interest payments to the hard money lender during the rehab process

Reserves in case anything goes wrong

The exit plan is the BRRR Strategy

I was in the middle of the refinance process when this COVID19 shutdown started. I should be getting a closing date any day now. 

Now I'm concerned that I'll have this new, larger mortgage payment and no investment activity. 

Are contractors working?

How do you get permits?

Who's buying?

This might be a good time for me to buy, but the BRRR strategy is a short term process to be recycled over and over. I don't think I should buy a property and let it sit for months because of COVID 19.

What are other investors out there doing? Particularly new ones, who might not be able to spread their expenses over their entire portfolio.