In addition interest rates have gone up, so I am not sure that even if I did, a refinance would make sense.

So, back to the original question, what strategies or approaches have BP members used for securing private money lending for a down payment (knowing refinance will produce ability to pull out that down payment in equity in a short amount of time, to pay off private lenders quickly)?

Weather I should pay down the loans I have right now so that when the time comes to buy I can refinance and take out the equity or do I take out the equity now while it's at its peak and hold it until the time comes.

Your best bet is to show the broker your current liquidity and the purchase price range you are targeting.

My plan is to season the property for a year or two and then refinance at that time.

I believe that your best bet would be to either 1) find an off/on market property that already meets the 1% rule which will be very hard especially in that area in today's market or 2) find a fixer upper and buy it cheap and force that appreciation.

I also tentatively plan to refinance in roughly 2 years in order to pull my initial investment out of it (BRRRR strategy with a slower refinance). 

When you refinance into your long term loan the HML will be paid off and that debt will be cleared.

If BRRRR, then you should also talk to a conventional loan officer before even talking to HMLs to make sure that you can refinance out of the hard money with your current financials.

However I want to do a cash-out refinance a year later.