In this case even if the project went south and you broke even or even lost money, the equity (debt) you used would still be covered by the income you are earning on the rental property. 

Finding the correct contact info is hard enough, but if your pitch is that they should sell cheap now, you're misreading the market.Multifamily properties are worth significantly less now than they were just a few years ago, and asking for a further discount due to property condition would probably result in a loss, maybe not even pay off the debt.

The challenge we're facing is the lack of short term rental data for the appraiser, and we won't know if it will meet the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) requirements until the appraisal is complete.Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

(income = 3 x monthly rent, Debt-To-Income, etc. can still be used!)

Key Check gave me credit and debt load, which was surprising, as most other methods people don't share.

If you do have enough other income then you dont even need to lease out this property to start your refinance.However if you dont have enough income to qualify with no rental income offset then yes you will need to obtain your lease(s) and security deposit + 1st months rents deposited before you can utilize 75% of this gross income - your monthly PITIA payment (in terms of qualification on this property refinance.So all in all Id make sure what your current debt to income position is first of all (DTI) and then strategize to see if you even need the leases at all.

A HELOC is a short term debt instrument.

What doesn’t work today may work in the future.Another challenge with the traditional BRRRR model is the resulting high debt load often isn’t fully covered by rental income, especially in today’s high-rate environment.

I just want to get financable this year - pay off debt, save some $. 

No warnings, just terminate if possible to gret rid of this problem tenant.5) Theft of tenant possessions - ignore.- Have they filed a police report?