Understand the local permitting requirements, keep eyes on your property to avoid squatters, and make sure you have a great vacant insurance policy while you're renovating.

That is unless you have a JV or other equity partner who is putting up the funds immediately with no lien, title insurance, etc.

This has been our strategy lately with higher interest rates.

You may save a few thousand dollars going this route, but may lose a few hundred thousand dollars if you are not dialing in on your strategy and numbers. 

That strategy actually makes your lead management team much more efficient because it outsources the mind-numbing tasks to the robots and lets the humans focus on what humans do best. 

This creates two loan payments ($100,000 of equity and $300,000 on the new mortgage).Key NumbersHome Equity Loan Interest Rate: 6%Mortgage Interest Rate: 7%Rental Income: $3,000 per monthExpenses (management, taxes, insurance, maintenance): $800 per monthIncome and ExpensesMonthly Rental Income: $3,000Monthly Expenses: $800Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,000ExplanationThe investor earns $3,000 in rent each month.They pay $2,000 on the investment property mortgage and $800 on other expenses.This leaves $200 profit each month or $2,400 per year.However, you have to pay $6,000 interest on the equity borrowed.This leaves you with an annual loss of $3,600.While the rental property generates positive monthly income, the interest cost of borrowing the initial $100,000 results in an overall loss.

People investing in Indianapolis have a far different strategy than people investing in SF. 

The "big" firms like AA may get a lot of hype but they generally can't compete on the next level tax strategies (Family office type strategies) nor customer service as their employee turnover is quite high.  

It also gave me the chance to experiment with short-term rentals before transitioning to a long-term hold, reinforcing my strategy for growing a real estate portfolio.

Is your DSCR ratio greater than 1-meaning are you cash flowing (according to the lender's criteria of mortgage, property taxes and insurance (and HOA) if applicable).