If you cash out equity in a property, you are "borrowing" that money from the lender.

Rents in the area are anywhere from $1k-$1300 a month.My plan was to get a hard money loan to get it going and fixed up and ready for tenants, then within about 6-7 months refinance the home with a traditional lender, then sit with that home for awhile until I get fully comfortable with the one house.

This actually makes your rental cash flow negative  

Very well qualified borrowers can often obtain favorable terms from their existing banking relationship and sometimes even borrow against non-real estate related capital assets such as money market, life insurance or investment accounts.

I have an idea for a unique data product, but before I dive deeper and invest more time and money into it, I want to learn from those with more experience in this field.Some background:I'm a tech entrepreneur with a passion for real estate investing.

Since both of you as members of the LLC in a non-community property state would actually be a different taxpayer since it would file it's own return.

I think it depends on your PM and who handles the money. 

One thing to keep in mind is that the tradesperson needs to invest their time and money to do this.

Too many STR owners claim they are bringing in $80,000 a year, but they don't tell you how much they actually net after deducting all the expenses.NOTE: almost every STR owner cheats on their numbers.

We used that money over time and saved up.