First full deal...plus long term holding advice needed.

[Kevin Enderle]

Just closed on my first full deal. I have another rental prop on my own land (I unknowingly house hacked  by turning a second building on my property into a rental which generates $950/month CF). I have done a flip with a partner before as a mold mitigation contractor, but this is my first full blown rental property. 

Single Family home in Bellingham, WA. I was called in by a RE agent to give an estimate to do an interior gut. 3 br. 2 ba. 2 story, 1620 sq ft, late 70s build. Severely water damaged and moldy. The second I stepped out of it I called my father. We'd been looking for a while for a house to flip together. I said we needed to jump on it right away. I found the house, he'd provide the financing, I'd provide the mitigation work and we'd sell and split the profits. We made an all cash offer on it and they accepted. Paid $240K. ARV is $370K and there is zero inventory in a desirable neighborhood. Bellingham's housing market is SMOKING STEAMING INCANDESCENT ABOUT TO ACHIEVE NUCLEAR FUSION HOT with housing prices jumping 11%...LAST MONTH.

We closed in 2.5 weeks and the mitigation work was started. It was so bad inside after cooking for 9 months that 10 seconds inside without a respirator and you'd come out gagging. 

2 weeks later after stumbling across BP, reading and listening to Podcasts, I decided it would make a killer investment property. Vacancy rate in this area is currently 0.64% and no, there isn't a missing digit. My father seemed to have the same idea as he called and offered to sell it to me at zero down, Interest only for 3 years at 3%.  No way I could turn that kind of gift down! I closed last Thursday. 

I'll have about $20K into the repairs when all is said and done, leaving me with a conservative $100K in equity. Researching the rental market,  I determined the best way to max out rents was to make it a Pet Friendly rental since I'm a major dog lover and that market is woefully underserved. It has a fenced back yard and I installed pet friendly flooring/etc. Local prop management co estimated it would rent for $1500/mo. I rented it to 3 Aerospace engineers and 2 dogs for $2200/mo. Big Pet Deposit. Big. 

My question for the experienced is this...

I'd like to BRRRR this but I'm 52, so the idea of holding a mortgage for 30 years isn't very appealing as I'd like to use the rental income as my retirement in 15-20 years. If I do a 15 year refi, it won't positive cash flow. So would it be better to put a 30 year refi in and plan on selling for the equity in 20 years or would it be better to stick a 15 year on it and wait for the rent to catch up to the mortgage in about 3-5 years to go neutral and cover expenses? I can afford to cover the $160/mo in Neg CF as an investment though the idea isn't very appealing. Even though I have budgeted for a reserve, as all new systems (plumbing/heating/electrical/insulation/) have gone into the place, the only thing I know I'll need to put funds aside for is a new roof in about 10 years. I plan to manage myself for the time being as I've only got two rentals at this point. Adding another 10% management fee on will make the neg too high for my tastes at this point. So is a 30 year and just wait for rents to rise over the years to give me the cash flow I want for retirement a good idea...or is a fast pay down and cover the negative for a substantial rental income in the future a better idea?

Also, how long of a history do banks typically want to show a rental record before you can do a refi on a first investment property?

I've definitely got the bug and want to start building a rental property portfolio of 2 properties/year to 15-20 in the next decade. I've got about $575K in equity on my own home to draw from if needed, thought the idea makes me a bit queasy.