By that point, rents will have increased and I'll have that cushion to then add a PM and still be able to cashflow.Hope this helps, and congrats again! 

So there is plenty of cushion for lenders and its a very strong deal.In the past, I have always offer my private lenders a flat 10% return.

All of this was explained to them with my offer which is another reason why they took it.Moral of my story, although you appear to have hit a triple on this one (great job again), I think you may have been able to come in slightly less on your offer with said explanation to see if you could have gained more cushion in your spread at purchase.

I know that for myself as a contractor, if I was asked to take over somebody else's job I would have to cushion my bid, or place verbiage in the contract that allowed for easy change orders.  

Hi @Nick Philippakos  house hacking in NJ with 50k can be tough, does not leave your friend with mush cushion and likely forces him to go turnkey which the majority of the time leads to House Hacker getting stuck in the property for many years since they have not acquired significant equity.  

Make sure you are following one of the rules such as the 70% rule, or whatever percentage your market allows, and you will be fine leaving enough safety cushion.

While it may be conservative, having a big cushion of available capital has allowed me to get through many sticky situations that were not foreseen going in (main stack and sewer lines being the most common). 

I have more than enough funds and a sizable cushion to purchase a MFH but cant secure financing  Thanks for the input!

This $140,000 is after leaving a safety cushion, etc, for myself.

I would suggest a few items: 1) Ensure you have cash on hand to make payments on the HELOC during the project, 2) Try and find a HELOC product that only requires interest-only payments (therefore reducing your payments during the project, 3) Build in some cushion on timing of the renovation and sales process for the flip in case either takes a few months longer.