@William F. I

However, things have changed (for the better), which enable you to get a hard-money loan to acquire the property (and do the rehab) and immediately turn around and re-fi the loan into a conventional product.  

@Mark F. I

Hi Everyone,Well this is my first post and I am excited that I just successfully closed on my first investment property in Charleston, SC. I

@Auria Styles, I am not the expert here but have just completed a 1031 out of CA to SC.   I

I believe my only other option is to re-fi (but the rates are a little higher and there will also be re-fi costs), are there any other options i should look into? 

Given that rates were so low, I didn't want to have to re-fi to get that additional premium taken off.Regarding renovations - I ended up just putting less down and using my remaining cash for renovations.I would definitely recommend doing an owner-occupy for the required 1 year. 

I have most of my places using the KwikSet Smart Key mentioned by @Bill F. I

So I personally do Flip grade finishes in my rentals to get the highest appraised value at the re-fi.  

I created this based on the form the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission publishes, but I cut it down to a more reasonable length and added a few provisions:https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/JonP22/fi...And here is the OREC form:https://www.ok.gov/OREC/documents/Residential%20Lease%20%2811-2015%29.pdf