It is hard to think about giving up an "asset" that is worth $1.15 mil and at the low end would be expected to grow at 5% per year (house worth ~1.7 mil by 2035), even if I incurred ~$50K worth of costs over 10 years. 

I'm originally from Western PA as well (Slippery Rock) and now reside in Atlanta.Here is how I am looking at it along with the assumptions I am making:1) I think the growth prospects are better in the Atlanta market than Pittsburgh from a pure demographics standpoint.2) I estimate your return on equity at 7.2% currently3) Over the long haul appreciation is going to take you further when it comes to net worth than cashflow will4) Doubling of the roofs is doubling the expensesThings to consider:1) What is the year built of your Atlanta property vs. what you could replace it with in PGH?

Most people do not realize when someone liens a property its just a lien, but to collect on it they must file a lawsuit to collect that money which will cost them 5x more than what its worth. 

That’s the real measure of whether it’s worth it.

I recommend AirDNA subscription for picking and evaluating both markets and individual properties, a little pricy, but if you are taking the investing seriously and with a long-time horizon, definitely worth it in my opinion

It's worth reaching out to Corporate Housing Groups (most HR Departments at large employers have this division as well as Relocation Companies that you can find via an internet search) to offer your property as a 30-day furnished rental.

I didn't realize the construction work is paid out of pocket and then reimbursed, so I had to nuke a lot of my bitcoin to pay for the first 12k worth of work to get the project started, so unless your lender gives you some construction money up front, you'll need to account for that too.

I keep around five rentals per LLC, and I am in Jacksonville, FL, where my homes are worth around $250-350k. 

Given these factors, is it worth losing some cash flow by refinancing to a conventional loan, or should I explore other options?

maybe only be extra $40,000 to build open loft... and I would guess I could possibly charge $2000/mo rent, not sure>>***I was kinda crunching numbers...if I'm estimating it correctly it will take me over 4.5 to 6.5 years in excess rent to make up the cost of building the private loft.....does that seem worth the extra loft cost?