Then you have to factor in appreciation, if you anticipate any.  

Hi Srushti,Some people jump in the water and know how to swim and some jump in the water and do not know how to swim.Like any other business you need to know what you are doing.Now you have retained the services of someone who you believe knows what they are doing to assist you.And for these services there is a cost.Some people (owner/operators) do the work themselves to lower the cost (somewhat).In this business you will have anticipated costs and unanticipated costs--it's not a magic profit genie.Sometimes you just have to write checks to get what you want.Just my 2 cents.

Paying down debt isn't always the answer, but if the anticipated  gross return is close to equal, take the risk-free, hassle-free,  tax-free path every time. 

My case was a bit more complicated than others.Because I retired earlier than I anticipated, I needed to use my 401k money to buy real estate for STR and also pay myself a salary to live.

Plus, with that little margin you are very much running the risk that if something unforeseen goes wrong with your project (think foundation issue, new roof, etc) that you might be upside down if you are doing a job that you anticipate netting $20,000 on.It takes the right deal to be able to pull that off, but they are out there.

We anticipate needing at least another $10-20K to get the rest of the work finished, and this includes redoing the bad job of the previous handyman as well as labor/materials for adding a bathroom.Overall lack of specific knowledge of Saint Paul building codes.

Maybe your goal isn't necessarily to cash flow and it's in an area where you anticipate high appreciation?

As of January of 2021, it was estimated value was 455K but I anticipate it to be valued more closely to 470K at time of completion.

It is extremely common for loans to take much longer than anticipated. 

Is it in my right to wait a few days to see if the gel works like I anticipate, or I need to buy a new one immediately?