Selling at FMV avoids the gift tax but provides your child with a higher tax basis, reducing their future capital gains liability.A better strategy for selling below FMV is to sell the house at FMV on an installment note, then forgive interest and principal annually up to the gift tax exclusion amount.

There are a few strategies you might consider to accelerate things.One option is a cash-out refinance.

Are there any strategies here to utilize bank funds for our project?

Point is, to just buy and hold for eternity is not good strategy or math.

Is there a strategy to do a BRRRR with little to no money out of my own pocket?

The strategy was built on sand. 

I'm finishing renovations on a studio apartment (under another unit in a multi-family) in the next few days and am trying to decide on what strategy to use to rent it.

The "big" firms like AA may get a lot of hype but they generally can't compete on the next level tax strategies (Family office type strategies) nor customer service as their employee turnover is quite high.  

I do a meetup in Mesa on Saturday morning's which is a good place to come meet even more RE professionals and investors.You have the experience so now you just need the right strategy to grow the portfolio.

This is going to vary widely depending on the strategy and real estate asset class.