They give the same $12k in closing costs to new buyer, $24k in realtor commissions, tack on say $4k in late fees, foreclosure costs, etc etc etc  so they “net” $360k.

Private Money Lenders (PML): More flexible, relationship-based funding with lower fees.

You can also expect increasing HOA fees, and there may be some problems renting a property inside a difficult.You don't have any experience, prices are at an all-time high, and rates are also high. 

No NON-QM broker or lender should be collecting upfront fees for processing.

There's also plenty of lenders who falsely represent the true capital requirements to originate their loans or are merely up front fee collectors. 

One of the side benefits is that I can avoid the whole draw/inspection process (not overall inspection, just the ones tied to the draws) and don't have to worry about draw fees.

They don't allow auto payments or automatically add late fees, and tenants would have the option to pull their payment back, which is not ideal.

To rent the home, I would lose about $2,500 per month (based on comparable rents in my area, property management fees, etc).Both options loose the same amount by roughly 2 years, and by this time, I still will not have built up much more equity in the home to make selling it a break even unless there is price appreciation by then.My dilemma is this: I speculate that my home will not appreciate much in the next 3-5 years due to the rapid pace of development in the surrounding area.In 5-10+ years, maybe, but by then I'll have bled $150,000 - $300,000.I have thought about this a lot and feel that I mar'-too close to the problem to see the best solution.

Maintenance and admins fees are high.

If that investor hadn't planned it carefully and re-invested that money into the property or even the purchase of another then a recapture fee would hit them hard.