About 4 years ago we purchased a retail center for cash and after stabilizing the tenancies financed $650,000 at 4% fixed 20 years with this lender.  3 months ago this lender allowed us to wrap their note in a new first lien we provided to a buyer with a 10% interest rate - essentially granting us the right to collect the differential between 10% and 4% on the principal balance (currently $610,000).  

I love Dave Ramsey but I don't follow all of his principals.

And even pierce the LLC or Corporate veil to make the principals of this transaction be held liable. 

These include falsely claiming to have closed dozens of deals when none were ever closed, illegal payment of undisclosed sales commissions to bundlers and independent contractors, advertising the funds as safe and appropriate to investors with obvious near-term needs for their capital, creating fund of funds en masse assembly line fashion with no corresponding SEC filings, unregistered brokers/financial advisors acting in that capacity absent licensure, having customers wire money claim the fund is fully subscribed and putting them into a high yield promissory note, accepting funds from unaccredited investors, misrepresentations about the debt put on the project, lies about experience level of the principals, omissions of material facts, and at least two straight up Ponzi schemes.While it's true that some legitimate operators are having issues in their portfolios, today's circumstances are a perfect example of the idiom, "you can only discover who is swimming naked when the tide goes out."

You'll have to pay rent regardless, so you need to consider that you would already have that expense, along with the fact that you'll get the benefits of principal paydown and asset appreciation (especially by leveraging).Acquire the asset and perhaps focus on something you can add value to, then you'll have a 100-200K equity chunk to play with in a few years when the market accelerates again.

I work with a lot of smaller syndications/investment groups and have seen some where the principals try to take a 'hands-off' approach and let the machine run.

The idea here is to pay off the principal of the $700,000 over the four period then when I get a loan for the remainder $550,000 it would be more affordable.

If you can use OPM on the renovation at say 7% with plan to pay the principal down in less than a year, then I would invest your personal funds elsewhere into another deal or do something with your current STR to help it stand out.From my experience, HELOCs scare me but I do know if done the right way they can be very effective.I'd be happy to chat more on your Smokies STR on how to help make it stand out.

DSCR is calculated by using the monthly market rent or lease (up to 120%) and dividing it by the Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance Payment. 2.

This is how you comply with interest tracing.When you sell that property, you receive the loan principal back.