It sounds like you have a solid plan in mind for getting into real estate investing.

I would get the STR going and save.

We do not NEED to do the refi but the plan is to eventually do it and remove the other person from the loan.

Those choices make sense if you plan on living in it at some point.

At the same time, I am setting up a living trust for estate planning so that this property can be passed on to my hiers without any difficulty.

They are not cheap and obviously require some kind of cellular plan, but I was able to get them to work using Mint mobile (you need a phone to activate the sim card on first, like an old iphone) Ive had 3 of these up watching a property in Cleveland, OH for well over a year, and Ive only had one issue where I needed to go check on the camera itself, (the plug for the solar panel came disconnected and just needed plugged back in) This camera in particular is nice because its actually 2 lenses that capture the full 180 degrees, so one cellular plan for "2" cameras.

I am planning to buy properties out of State to fix&flip. 

I plan to use a DSCR loan.

Then describe your plan, the type of properties you’ll be buying and what you are going to do and how you are structuring it.

Is it better to do a smaller down payment compared to 20% to save on interest rates and then take a lump sum to recast the mortgage?