@Brian Burke so pretty much the investors' capital would only be paid down or off in the case of sale or refinance, correct?

Some lenders may have a rehab/ construction type loan that can finance the purchase and repair costs but have a 6-18 month balloon that would require a refinance. 

I am re-reading 'The book on Rental Property Investing' by Brandon Turner then going to re-read 'The Book on Investing In Real Estate with No (and Low) Money down' by Brandon Turner and 'Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat' by David Greene. 

I owned it for 12 months, but did 2 refinances in between.

As you mentioned, an agent is one of the four but you also want to focus on curating trusted relationships with a contractor, PM, and lender (espeically one who can help start to finish with the purchase/rehab and refinance).

I have purchased a set of 4 properties in Salem NJ and need to refinance them all to pay off private money lenders.

Since the repair work is minor, I would need $100,000-$110,000 for 2-3 months until I can (re)finance for a conventional loan.

You will see it in refinances from properties that were recently bought (and hoping the borrowers still have equity to refinance).

Does this affect a cash-out refinance or pulling out equity in the form of a HELOC/equity loan? 

If you refinance the rental house and get the equity out, you'll end up with a higher interest rate and a good amount of cash to use on your next house.