As far as the renovations, I used a local contractor, also lucked out in that regard, the guy was excellent and it was godsent having him handle many of the logistics i.e. receiving packages that I had bought to ship up to the house for the reno, among other things.

As long as you are willing to put in the work Arbitrage can be an excellent strategy toward financial freedom.

@Veronica Giggers for amortization schedule excel has one you can download and tweak the numbers and amortization period really easily.

@Justin Anderson The point about parties is excellent.

Also, one of the homes I was using as a comp was excellent (same style, general floor plan, age, sq. footage) but it had a pool in the backyard.

We are reaching out here to see if someone has an excellent recommendation for a realtor that has gone above and beyond that specializes in short term rentals.  

@Kevin Maher , excellent points.

I have excellent credit (over 800), equity, good rental income, but the amount is too low for the lenders I’ve contacted.

However, it is an excellent area for jobs, growth, appreciation, underserved rental market and not many “bad areas” so great for rentals. 

I have had clients use them for mutliple types of losses and they've done an excellent job for the clients.