I just want to get financable this year - pay off debt, save some $. 

In this case even if the project went south and you broke even or even lost money, the equity (debt) you used would still be covered by the income you are earning on the rental property. 

A lot of people tend to mingle these things when they talk about "break even" or "cap rate", but that leads to a lot of confusion.Let's use some real numbers which may be easier to understand. 

I know it’s going to take a lot of digging and possibly building my own pipeline for off-market leads to make this strategy viable long-term.

Refi after construction.These numbers consider only the portion of costs of the HEL attributable to the land purchase, not the payoff of the HELOC (which we took out to buy the Seaside condo).Cash In:                     $66,166 (Cash, 1 year of debt service of HEL, debt service of const. loan, furnishing)Amount Financed:      $548,000 (home equity loan + construction loan + closing costs)Total Cost of build:     $614,166ARV:                               $850,000 (or rather "after construction value")Refi                                $637,500 (75% of value + closing costs)                                        Cash Out                       $89,500New payment             $4500/month (54,000/year)Estimated Cash Flow (pre-tax numbers, so actual mileage may vary)airBNB year 1:            $70,000     (net income $16,000)airBNB year 2:            $100,000   (net income $46,000)airBNB year3+:           $120,000   (net income $66,000)ROI (construction year):    0ROI Year 1 of STR:              24.2% ROI Year 2 of STR:              69.5% ROI Year 3+ of STR:            99.7% Did I calculate these ROI numbers right? 

Generally buying in nicer areas leads to better experiences and confidence in your investing, but lower cash flow when you move out.

As leads come in, I will make a commitment to keep you all updated as they go through the process.

As a powerful organization, I would like to see Bigger Pockets become a leader in not simply educating real estate investors but leading the way in warning investors about the real estate guru pitfalls.  

Also, in order to get financing the lender wouldn’t allow SCI to dramatically overpay or they wouldn’t meet the debt service requirements.

You can bypass the longer seasoning requirement with a debt service loan.