Have your CPA run this scenario with your numbers; too much money to take advice from the internet!

This deal aligned perfectly with my strategy to build equity and cash flow while leveraging hard money financing and refinance opportunities.

If you use a cash-out refi, you can deploy the money elsewhere to partially offset that interest if it will be sitting idle a while.

Quote from @Shayan Sameer: Tapping into the equity is always great when it comes to recycling money quickly as you would a flip.

Now purchasing a home with cash is always good b/c obviously cash is king but also I think the part you might've missed is that, the money your utilizing on these home's won't actually be yours, but the banks or whatever institution you used to fix the home or make its value worth more.

Generally, the coverage of the policy will state; “The coverage of this policy shall continue in force as of Date of Policy in favor of an Insured after acquisition of the Title by an Insured or after conveyance by an Insured, but only so long as the Insured retains an estate or interest in the Land, or holds an obligation secured by a purchase money Mortgage given by a purchaser from the Insured, or only so long as the Insured shall have liability by reason of warranties in any transfer or conveyance of the Title.”

We also run numbers to avoid lost money on blindly paying for an appraisal to find out its a dead deal or of no benefit.

I would be looking to use hard money to cover the costs of renovations.

You said "don't do it for the money," but I'm sure money calculations were part of convincing you this would be a reasonable way to spend your time and money.

I figured lowest money out of pocket was the best way to go, and in this case FHA would provide the lowest downpayment.