@Steve VanderlayHi,Thanks for posting in the forums.However, we had to remove your thread or post as we do not allow any form of advertising in the BiggerPockets Forums.

We removed a wall between the kitchen and dining room, updated the kitchen, gutted both bathrooms, paint, refinished hardwood, updated plumbing and electric and did an unbelievably large amount of landscaping (English Ivy AND Honeysuckle...c'mon!).

Removed all the wall paper and painted the entire house, remodeled the kitchen and updated various places of the house.

The closing cost is more than 6% even when I remove the credit/discount.

@Justin Anderson exactly the type of feedback that makes me think that maybe I'm not wasting time.

Fantastic way to waste money.

Doing it the opposite way will likely waste time and money, and require you to find a unicorn lot for you predesigned build.If you strategy is to build to rent, than you should focus on that.

For $150 more per month  ($300 off removing PMI, $450 added HELOC= $150 more/month) we got $80K for our next house hack.   

It's extremely common for buyers in the Austin market to waive the appraisal contingency to win in multiple offers, which means they are removing their right to terminate or negotiate if the appraisal doesn't meet value. 

That will require removal of the plywood, which opens you to more repairs as you see what is underneath.