I've been living here for 2 years and would like to start investing in real estate.

Well, as long as it's not too late.

Having been in many aspects of real estate throughout my career my favorites are ground up construction and note investing. right now note investing takes the cake as it can be done in any environment whereas ground up right now is very challenging. 

Even their sales prices didnt seem worth it About ten years ago I would buy my flooring for my rentals from LL and I found it held up well (its still installed).

Looking to purchase one and struggling with the right calculators to determine the real metrics.As I understand it (recently looked at buying a former bnb) you need to treat it like any other STR with your extra costs such as food, etc  baked in to the expenses.

The outer municipalities are even better, like Fountain Hill.

Like @Andrew Steffens said, I don't need to arbitrage it.Regarding some of your other points.

Overestimating costs and staying under budget is always a smart move, and it sounds like the renovation went smoothly.

First, I would not start renos until it is closed unless you are doing something simple like painting. 

The interior and grounds need a major renovation, which I am estimating at around 1MIL.