They took three weeks and had nothing processed, they did not even order the appraisal.

I read it a lot of different places including on bigger pockets.

Union City I tend to avoid, there are a few pockets that work for MTR but for the most part the city's rental laws make life very tough for landlords. 

As a general rule of thumb it's smart to pay for 10 - 20% of the total costs (purchase price + rehab) out of your pocket and then finance the rest with hard money. 

There are DSCR lenders who have a three month seasoning period to use the new appraised value for the cash out refinance.

Personally I would rather finance it and keep the cash in hand to go buy more properties than pay the full amount out of pocket, regardless of the potential tax benefits.

Hello Bigger Pockets community!

And unless you have very deep pockets, you can't afford to be that much off....So as has been said....hire a very experienced General Contractor and have them give you a budget number based on your SOW, (plus they will find other things that need to be done that you will not have seen).On your succeeding projects, you do a budget yourseld first, then hire the GC and compare numbers.Then, eventually you will be comfortable going all solo...but it takes time.

Just getting my feet wet out there over the last three years and its good to see the post and the additional feedback from some really savvy and experienced investors.Built about 10 cabins last year as I talked my ex brother in law into moving out there two years ago and getting our gc license. 

Welcome to the Bigger Pockets community!