The banks/credit unions said I needed 6 to 12 months of ownership to get refied. 

They could even hire you to do the work on the house and instead of paying you they could just give you a credit at closing.

I finished all the degree requirements only to discover I was extremely burned out and had to complete another year of electives to satisfy a minimum number of credits at that university.

INstead of just saying "no" we asked them to check with their credit card company if they offer travel insurance yada yada.. we got a 5 star review form them without giving a refund.

Any local bank that does this kind of financing should be able to approve you as long as you have a good enough credit score and never declared BK.

I have gotten a seller's credit for my 3 existing units but to be conservative, I will assume I am paying full closing costs here.At the moment, I have ~$25k in a HYSA and expect to save another $10k from my W-2 before I start putting offers in.

All that said, we just met them in the middle and gave them the credit because we wanted it to be over.

I would definitely check Dunn and Bradstreet for any open lines of credit, liens, judgements and the like. 

It is easy for people to download fake W2s, ESA paperwork, etc, with a few mouse clicks and a credit card. 

A business line of credit through your LLC protects personal assets, builds business credit, and may allow interest deductions, but it might be harder to secure for a new LLC.