I was wondering - in that situation described of how you keep tenants in place and rehab whichever units you can, how do you handle your "bridge" financing (assuming you are not operating in all cash)?   

If I google anything ‘short term’ involving rental property I get swamped with VRBO stuff, so all I could find was describing a regular mortgage, and haven’t turned up anything clarifying whether a short-term ‘bridge’ type loan such as you might see with a flip gets treated by the same rules. 

Cross that bridge when you get there.

I see many people build many "half bridges" as Brand Turner would say and have way to many cooks in the kitchen. 

First block once you cross the bridge. 

You may think that hard money is the only route but he has proven me wrong time and time again by presenting multiple loan products based on the deal and my investor profile.He has great options and flexible terms depending on the deal and can even do a bridge-to-permanent financing to get around the down payment as long as you buy right.Let me know.Cheers!

You could do a bridge loan for the purchase and finance the purchase, but fund the construction yourself.

I built a bunch of bridges in the Cincy area back in the day before I left my job to do REI full-time.

Use the BRRRR method.There are lenders who offer Bridge- Fix & Flip loans. 90% LTC and 100% of the rehab.Refinance into a long-term loan.

If this is the case you can get a bridge loan to fund the first if you need it.