My rule of thumb when walking with contractors is if they talk more about themselves and past projects compared to what they will do on this project thats a hard no. 

I am an accidental builder IE lent to builders who went busto and had to take over the projects. that was in 2013 muddled my way through the first 4 projects that I had to take over .. then felt WTF I am putting up all the money basically and taking the lions share of the risk why dont I just try to do it all..

Though DSCR gives you a better picture of how the property is projected to perform vs debt service, you can't rely solely on one measure to make a purchase decision. 

It's very hard to say if a 50/50 cash flow split is good without seeing the numbers for the project.

Beyond the lessons from the projects themselves, building a business that’s efficient, diversified, and focused on the luxury market has been a game-changer.

The best projects I've seen from my desk are folks who are doing hyper-targeted, well-researched deals that are generally in higher cost of living (there are exceptions) areas. 

Use AirDNA to get a better feel for what may be projected and then dive into Airbnb and compare to your competitors. 

I am a current college student and gained interest in real estate as I am working on a project focused on finding ways to expand opportunities for real estate investors.

That is one of our next projects…

If you have cash on hand to fund the rehab and want to extract it soon after the project is done, you can use delayed financing.