or, do you cash flow only after you've paid back your closing costs and your rent ready costs? 

Quote from @Dylan Gomez: I inherited two homes, both were paid off one was livable, and I now live in it, the other was a rental in TERRIBLE condition.

Ran into many problems with contractors along the way, paid for some material twice as well as some projects to be redone.

If youre older and wealthier, paid off sounds a lot better.

You might need to file 1099s if you used contractors or other people whom you paid for labor:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1167632-expla...

Depending on the loan product, you may be able to exclude business debt once the business has paid the debt directly for 12 months.The income and losses related to the operation of the entity will affect the income side of your DTI (like Jay explained) if you own 25% or more of the entity.

I have had my property manager paid to oversee the renovations. 

Will that be paid up by then as well?

Mostly MF and self storage.I bought an industrial property from a wholesaler, paid him a $600,000 fee. 

The lender won't release either one from the loan until it is paid off.