Private lender will be close to a credit card interest rate for them to finance something like that.

I do not care what the source of the return is  Historically the highest return is via a value add and appreciation and is more so recently due to the recent rate increase versus earlier this century (before 2022).However, most new RE investors cannot handle extended periods of large negative cash flow.  

We started raising the rents on the 3 and 4 BR units until the rate of leasing slowed to a normal pace.Fast forward two years and we found ourselves with higher vacancy on those same units. 

@Mike Grudzien @Tim Delaney do you guys think it'd be worth joining a credit union in the city I used to live just to get the rate even if I'm out of state now, will they still give a better rate? 

.), and also need to consider the cost of vacancies or bad tenants.I also recommend you charge market rate, for yourself and the tenant.

Many syndicators got into syndications in 2018 2019 and their deals look great but that is primarily due to cap rates going from 7% to 4% and interest rates going from 6% to 3%.

Also, consider builder incentives like rate buy-downs or upgrades if they’re not open to price negotiations.

The cost of labor , materials , property taxes , inflation , interest rates  etc .

And they should have accounts for everything with heavy discounts built in for their quantity buying.

But in a market like yours, is there substantial difference between high and slow season rates?