You will certainly run into challenges that you did not anticipate and it is great to have a responsive and helpful lender partner.Naturally you will want to find a product with competitive pricing and leverage, though keep in mind first time investors do not always qualify for the lowest pricing.

Travis I'm a handyman in Orgeron and I would say you are looking at 25k to 30k as a guide line .Depending on the quality of products you choose, don't cheap on flooring or anything that is done in the wall.Provide refrigerator and stove only un less you go with over the stove microwave. 

New unit construction cost's are at/near all time record highs in terms of production costs (labor, material, regulations, tax's etc.).

There are 30 year fixed DSCR loan products which gives more flexibility and piece of mind then a 5 year balloon payment.

https://store.biggerpockets.com/products/the-house-hacking-s...

Most products just don't cut it.

RR has some very nice product .. however one just needs to look at any real estate venture with the same due diligence you would buying a home to live in.home inspection verify neighborhoods etc.My personal Experience with Zach the owner has proven over time he is very diligent in making sure his product and staff are on top of his clients investments.. that all said its still real estate so keep that in mind as well. but as for integrity Zach has it from my point of view.

I've been looking at some of the online lenders (Better, Figure, Rocket Mortgage, etc) and while they offer a decent product, perhaps there is a lender who is local to Indiana that would offer a HELOC with better terms? 

Ok I will check those websites out, Thank you.There's a variety of ways to get a deal in front of you (I'm mostly a flipper), but basically if it looks promising, I run custom comps queries and check the current & past $/sf of renovated/distressed product in that city or zipcode.Here's a chart on 90066 I generated from my tool under Market Stats > Sales Data > Specific Zip Code:- My above chart (more available) shows the Avg Renovated $/sf (High) over time in this Zip Code, something completely different than charts/providers based on Averages/Medians only, like every other platform (RedFin Below, https://www.redfin.com/news/data-center/):- Can't select smaller locations such as City or Zipcode for their $/sf data, so it's useless helping me underwrite/verify a deal.- Can set Zip Code for Median Sale Price data, but again it's the median/avg so it's useless helping me underwrite/verify a deal.Then if that looks decent, I'll run Sales Comps, and get a quick summary of some key metrics based on those comps.

I'd look at renting out the other unit and then replicating what you just did with a different loan product.