I would like to refinance it asap for the appraised value but banks are telling me due to federal regulations they can only finance up to 80% of the lower value between purchase price + rehab costs or the appraisal.

By shopping around for the best deals, using alternative materials, or using recycled materials, homeowners and builders can save money and help the environment.

Deals will be found in any market in any RE environment.

Also if it’s in a city in that area, if the place gets flooded, the city will require your rehab to comply with current fema regulations that say the ground floor of the house must be above the base flood elevation.

It's a great way to burn through whatever money you have, while dodging state regulators. 

If you will have, say $300k out, you will need to anticipate in our current lending environment that you will need 25% down for next purchase.

If it's legal, but not conforming to the current zoning regulations, then you'll need a rebuild letter from the governmental entity that governs zoning.Once you get the zoning nailed down, get a hard money loan and get the whole thing finished so you can get a DSCR loan (you're right, before they get more expensive). 

Curious if anyone is seeing suburbs of major metro's develop STR regulations anywhere else in the nation?

Just attended a REIA meeting where wholesaling was a heavy topic and though regulations were mentioned for certain states, there was nothing special mentioned for Allentown, PA.Just normal stuff like have proper contracts, EMDs, conduct business honestly, be accurate with rehab and ARV estimates, don't harass people, file and pay taxes.  

Lucie is the local regulations and ordinances.