There can be many factors impacting the delay!

I’m new to real estate investing and don’t want to make a detrimental mistake early on.

Sometimes putting a for rent sign in front of the house works wonders and sometimes it can be detrimental to the investment itself.Why You Would Want To Use For Rent SignsRental signs are a great way to get word of mouth advertising from those in the neighborhood.

@John Green I would look at the historical vacancy and impact of that to the gross income.

Rent Control article for California and likely impacts.

I currently work a job that pays very well, the only issue is that I have lost interest in it and it has had a negative impact on my life recently.

Renovations/repairs before/ after in service may need to be split Renovations that impact the entire building need to be split between business and your personal residence if you have a dedicated home office IN your personal residence that's another allocation for business use. 

Next, what underwriting criteria do we need to watch out (or plan) for, or have the largest impact on a re-fi of this nature?

I do agree that Kiyosaki’s books may not have any impact on people who are financially savvy.

Just curious how Covid has impacted prices.Lead times for work have exploded but prices haven't gone up at the same rate.In CincinnatiGeneral labor is probably 40-50/hrPlumbing is 125 And electricians can charge 200+/hrThis represents the cost of everything except materials.