This is because the dwindling cash flow due to the increased rates has resulted in higher cap rates.  

Additionally, don’t overlook the opportunity cost of pulling money from your 401k—those funds could have been compounding in the market.I’d also suggest stress testing your ROI by running scenarios with higher expenses or lower rents to see how resilient the investment is.

In your case, it sounds like a similar story.. you identified a property with potential, tackled the structural work, and brought it back to life in a way that justifies a higher price.

I clean it up a little and sell it for more and a higher interest rate.

The higher interest rates make it that much harder. 

The income is much higher but it does come with a more management.

As others have stated, your fit & finish goals should be guided by whether you plan to:1) Rent: tenants don't always take care of a property, so you want to use lower-grade materials and workmanship.2) Flip: higher quality on workmanship and materials is usually required.Regardless, you always want to "Maintain to the Neighborhood".

Never used a DSCR loan in the past and have always understood those rates to be higher by a point or two in most cases. 

My first question is do I pick a good, better, best system that costs from less to more $$ and do I justify the more expensive energy efficient system to grab a little higher rents since tenants will save money.

I would think that participating in a sub to deal as a principle poses an even higher risk.