15% on top of the normal month charge is a rip off.

Contractors, unless you have a working relationship with them, normally do not want you bouncing ideas off them.Understand what their hourly rate is, have a discussion with them that you are okay with paying them an hourly rate if they walk the property with you and provide you a scope of work along with an explanation of what you can/can't get away with in regards to improvements.ask them if you go with them, if they can credit you the amount that you paid.Once you develop a working relationship with a few contractors, you can bounce ideas off them and expect quality responses.I do not invest in New York.Best of luck. 

I'm hoping he'll have some options for me.I know a Home Equity Loan is basically a second mortgage in normal situations, but they seem to come with less red tape from what I've found.

They are pretty "normal".

Factoring market conditions at the time of refinance, I negotiated a lower rate and conceded a lower term anticipating rates to normalize in the 4%-5% range by 2026.

Does this process seem normal to you?

Rents for medium term rentals usually range from 1.5 times to 2 times the normal rent for a place.

There are two types of return from a rental propertyCash Flow & Appreciation.I normally also aim for a minimum of 8% return between Cash-Flow and Appreciation.Appreication, nationally, is around 2% to 3% annually.Therefore, your goal is to get the cash-flow to be about 5% to 6%.The issue is interest rates being very high, you would therefore, need to buy at a pricepoint where the numbers still make sense.You can always put down more of a downpayment to cash flow, but that will impact your cash on cash return calculations.Best of luck!

I reached out to the individual marketing the deal to schedule a property viewing, but they’re asking for proof of funds (which I expected) and a signed purchase agreement or LOI.Is this normal?

(End)So if the tenant is delinquent, you can begin the eviction process via the normal notice process to the tenant.