Not talking about you personally.

Yea this is a long-term personal play more than a strict STR deal. 

If you feel the need for in-person mentorship, reach out to prominent local investors and try and strike a deal to learn from them.

Dumb question - but are these auctions online only, or in-person? 

If you make the person an LLC employee you can get around it, but partner does need to be careful. 

This will allow you to remove the person and do the financing on your own.Home Equity Loan/Line of Credit: Since you're looking to access equity, a home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC) can be a good option.

I got a deal on labor as I know the contractor personally and helped out a bit with the project.

I’m not a former IRS person.

The drawback is you need to build trust and relationships upfront.Both have their place, but private money tends to offer more flexibility, while hard money is more structured and accessible if you lack personal connections.

We will shop for used appliances where we can when we need one… or pick up used cabinets if we can, or search eBay for something smaller,  but going to the extreme of personally shipping something big in internationally for one-off renovation needs seems like a stretch of reasonable.Just like you mention, the number of unknowns would not seem to be worth it to me.Just my 2 cents.Randy