I’m really early into the research phase but would be prepared to “pull the trigger” over the winter (eg purchasing a property to setup the tents) but ran into a bit of a “wall”.I’m pretty close to Blue Ridge and love the area so have considered a STR there for a while.  

Tenant is only responsible for pulling weeds in a flower bed I assume? 

They're not like big conventional banks after all (correct me if I'm mistaken).I found one that does a soft pull so I'm thinking there's nothing to lose. 

Bought the 3 unit for 95k in 2019, renovated and refinanced end of 2019 and pulled 80% of cash out.

According to market data, the volume of mezzanine and preferred equity investments in commercial real estate has increased as traditional lenders pull back due to higher risk and regulatory constraints.

With $5500 a month on a $350K property, plus rehab, your client is likely pulling in solid cash flow.Great work—definitely something to consider for more investors on Chicago's north side!

OR you'd have to do 2 separate transactions and incur 2 sets of closing costs/ transactional costs. i dont think its a bad play, a lot of people leverage one to help them expand to the next. another challenge you will have, though, is pulling something small like $50k out. most lenders rn have a $100k min. you might be able to find less but then fees/ points will be a little excessive. 

(I had an STR investor client have their permit pulled for dubious reasons.)

The only hang up that I have with dropping that amount on mini splits is it pushes back the timeline of the 4 unit because that chunk of money would be pulled out of that account.3.

Try to hide your identity and tenants will assume you are trying to pull a rental scam