@Collen F.......I am in a rent collection system however they have suspended the option of reporting to the credit bureau because of COVID. 

@Becca F. I

@Scott F. I

Personal finance content/and the FI/RE community are actually what got me interested in real estate in the first place!

Hey All - Can anyone provide some insight regarding STR's in Charleston, SC? I

Most of the time I spend is "voluntary" - tweaking documents, researching re-fi options, talking with my contractors, etc.

By using option 1 it seems you could in the sense avoid that because you would be acquiring with cash from your re-fi. 

A lot of factors at play here Mitchlyn, but keep in mind a few things -- Most lenders will not do a 100% re-fi, but if your equity spread is enough, then maybe it will work out that way for you; HELOC loans will typically be up to 80% ARV and are cheaper and re-usable compared to a re-fi mortgage; if you're planning to rent out these properties for a good positive income spread over what you have to pay out, then it might be wiser to use the borrowed funds to pay for these remodeling expenses since they will be more than covered by your incoming rents, thereby essentially making the remodel costs free to you, and that way you can save your cash in savings for a down payment on another property or a vacation, or other bills...

@Greg F. I

This is more time-intensive, as you supply the utilities and Wi-Fi and have younger tenants, but the vacancy issue is mitigated.