This creates two loan payments ($100,000 of equity and $300,000 on the new mortgage).Key NumbersHome Equity Loan Interest Rate: 6%Mortgage Interest Rate: 7%Rental Income: $3,000 per monthExpenses (management, taxes, insurance, maintenance): $800 per monthIncome and ExpensesMonthly Rental Income: $3,000Monthly Expenses: $800Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,000ExplanationThe investor earns $3,000 in rent each month.They pay $2,000 on the investment property mortgage and $800 on other expenses.This leaves $200 profit each month or $2,400 per year.However, you have to pay $6,000 interest on the equity borrowed.This leaves you with an annual loss of $3,600.While the rental property generates positive monthly income, the interest cost of borrowing the initial $100,000 results in an overall annual loss.

Consider the long term cost of ownership - butcher block is expensive, looks great and can wear roughly.

After that, they have to pay rent, utilities, and other costs even if they aren't going to occupy for another month.

The condos here are hyper competitive and hard to get into for a deal - they just cant build them fast enough.

You won't find multifamily properties and the houses are generally smaller (which is great for lower maintenance cost).  

Maybe in the future, you can specify a monthly cost for the electrical utilities based on the previous years averages.  

Estimating costs comes easier with experience and working with the same people multiple times.

Many hard money lenders require 30-40% of the project costs as a down payment.

Two contributing factors are high construction costs and regulations that make obtaining a construction permit difficult.California already has a large housing shortage.

The town home would cash flow ~$200 after expenses (and is near new/low risk of large capital costs).