One side is traditional rental and the other side I have furnished and have been renting as STR. 

If you don't have the downpayment, go make some cash so that you do, either through saving from your normal income or some real estate investing efforts.Your point on debt paydown, although true, is not relevant to the argument of BRRR vs. traditional rental.

If you don't wish to (or have the time to) roll your sleeves up and do some grunt work I would just stick to traditional investing.

Few people have no clue what is or how it works, I was just reading today that the cannabis growers that will be trading BILLIONS of dollars in CA, cannot deposit those funds in traditional banks, therefore; many will be using Bitcoins and other digital currency. 

Rates are typically higher than a traditional cash out refinance, however at least you are not getting the full loan amount + you have the flexibility to draw/tap in the money whenever needed.

I have also helped a variety of both local and OOS investors buy in the metro using owner occupant and traditional investor financing.

So if you are buying a property the traditional way, using an agent, you won't usually get answers when it comes to the condition.

The process is pretty simple, but it does involve extra steps compared to a traditional rental.

Some use them as rentals.the biggest reason for doing things this way is a traditional bank won’t loan on  property that won’t appraise at their desired price.

The way I've traditionally used them (i.e., simply transferring from AmEx to Delta SkyMiles), they're only worth 1%...well maybe a bit over 1.15% because I also have a personal Delta AmEx which makes mileage tickets come at a 15% discount.