Scheduling is the hardest part of construction , good subcontractors are not sitting home waiting for the phone to ring , they are scheduled out weeks if not months ahead of time .

Need to be sure you include the "unknown budget" and never take the optimistic approach as it is better to have money left at the end than writing more and more checks that were unplanned for.Again, if you can walk through an actual property and compare notes with someone that does it in your area (key factor), you will be way ahead of what a generic book can give you.

It was a pain, but in the end, I came out ahead as there are rent caps in the area and got good tenants. 

If you conclude the leverage is so good that everyone comes out ahead that's fine but if you are only able to originate hard money debt that may be viewed as a red flag by investors who will question your experience and borrowing strength.

I feel like I might even come out ahead on the appraisal after the build is complete and walk away with my initial investment ?  

You must use a work around and send it to yourself, then proceed to fill out the application as a prospective tenant clicking next to be able to see each next page! 

Just a heads up LTR folks are pretty brutal on furniture.

So you might as well be a head of the game do the cash out refinance buy the next 1-2 properties and simply refinance the original mortgage as a "rate and term" which carries a lower rate.

So if we have a $475 bill for an owner you could click on that amount and see the invoice/bill that's associated with it and get some more information.

Rent control on MF and if prop 33 passes (last polling I saw had it ahead) it could apply to all housing.