For a conventional loan, you can borrow UP to what you paid for the property plus closing costs OR 75% of the appraised value which ever is less.  

They have cost my business tens of thousands of dollars and countless wasted hours of follow ups and missed opportunities.

These are all upfront soft costs before you break ground. $300sqft to build at least.If you have any sort of mortgage on the property you will need an attorney to handle the mountain of paperwork the bank will give you for a lien release. 10k+, also probably some nightmare terms to have to build and sell immediately and god knows what.At this point a year has passed and you have spent at least $60,000 cash, you're about to break ground on a structure that will cost you at the very least $400,000 to build, you are still 1 year away from cashing out because you have to now build a house.

Maybe that is gross profit when you sell it, but what about the cost to build it?  

Heck, you process debit cards if you insist for 1/10th the cost and non-reversible. 

Obviously I want to keep my costs low but still want to spring for amenities that would give me a competitive edge compared to other rentals.

From there it is really just a matter of determining comps, cost to rehab a property, and your timeline.I have helped several investors flip their first home in Austin and learn how to do it effectively.

Support has gone down substantially imo while costs have gone up. big issue for us was the announcement lady year that tenant ACH payments were going from free to $2.50/pop, or you can cover it for $1/unit but you have to do all doors and can’t pick and choose (despite there being a beta that they announced, told me I could join, then later told me I couldn’t join bc it was too late and blamed me for not asking sooner when I literally asked right away and followed up repeatedly).

I personally do not prefer to hold high cost SFRs as LTR investments.  

However, co-living allows you to acquire properties with as little as 0%-5% down, drastically reducing the amount of cash required.Instead of needing $100K+ to buy a rental, a co-living strategy lets you start with a fraction of the cost while achieving higher returns.3.