This will allow you to pull out cash at a lower rate and use it for the improvements.Are all those improvements necessary today?

I've been listening to the bigger pockets podcast for approx 3 years now, and was finally able to pull the trigger and finance my first multifamily property.

I think pulling your equity to do so is smarter, short term and long term, but that is just me. 

I would also check with the credit reporting agencies to see exactly who pulled the credit report and I would speak to the lender to see what  your mom put on the application.

It's a great way to increase your net worth and these loans can also be used to pull cash out of a property as it appreciates allowing you to reinvest money into new deals.Happy to connect to discuss further. 

Then I eventually pulled the trigger and found another home and sold my first property What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

As for the Media scare, I saw one news article touting a $100k special assesment on a HOA and when I pulled up the building the average cost of fire sale condos are $3M TO $5M and part of the special assesment was to cover new unneeded landscaping. 

If you buy a property with the intention to rehab and refinance (BRRRR) to pull your cash out, you'll need to wait 12 months to use the appraised value with a conventional loan.

If you can pull out an extra $20K a year I would go that route with the STR and you can use other VRBO's/AIRBNB receivables to find out local annual ROI/NOI.

Obviously mortgage rates dropping is ideal and would allow for a portion of the $250k down payment to be pulled back out (cash out refi) all while keeping rents pretty close to constant.