I'm about a year away from putting skin in the game.

If The hostel hotel thing did not work, there is big demand for larger or medium sized spaces for rent to hold events. you could also turn them into invididual units for rent to shop owners, etc... there is a lot of ways to skin this cat. since I have almost a dozen STRs, this looked like a cool project that was a little different from our SFRs and multiunits. 

(I won't get into explaining it to avoid long post but there is a multitude of info on it in the forums) A lot of hard money lenders want you to have some skin in the game, ie: a percentage of the down payment or a few months worth of interest payments in your account which is what the 5k would serve as.

If you do crack or break a piece of trim don't panic- glue it back together I've even been successful with just dry fitting them together and nailing in placeI like to under cut the wall so the new floor will fit underneath the drywall or plaster.

If so and you can show examples, you could partner with other investors where they help with the gap funding.If not...get busy saving up money...your skin in the game so to speak. 

But there are soooooo many ways to skin the real estate cat. 

Big, and diverse.Weather: hot, dry, at times rainy, but year round construction. 

There are a few ways to skin this cat, and each consultant (attorney, civil engineer ect) will have their own take on the best solution.

Baisically I’m doing a lot of work and putting some skin in the game and only taking half.

You might lose some skirting but at least the home would be dry.