Thank you in advance for helping me navigate this decision.I have a long history of fix and flips in several states and the first thing I want to point out is that you make your money in the "buy".

The perceived value may be more, because you know an STR was run there and making money, but a lender wont value it more.While I agree a lender probably won’t value it more, an investor interested in running it as a STR will pay more.  

Trust me; you don't want to miss those crucial dates and risk losing money or even blowing the whole deal.

The money is in the pad rental.  

or scammed them on their application fee (like we're going to make a ton of money off those).

Going over maps of known repairs with contractors showed that there were a few houses where people tried to have piers installed and ran out of money before hitting stable soil, others in the hyper local area did have to go to 100+ ft.  

However, if you have money and are looking to buy investment property there are many, many better places to invest than Austin.  

Selling makes agents money and the IRS if you don''t 1031, it's almost always better to re-leverage instead.

Got insurance involved and use that money to remodel the entire inside, and add a new roof.

Hard money lenders are going to want you to have success and will often times help you see if your numbers are close or way off.