If you're looking for an accountant / book keeper reach out and I have an excellent referral for a firm that is virtual, does only real estate investing, and their accounting work is incredible. 

The market is tight now, but if you purchase right you should be able to achieve a levered IRR of 15%.

I can't give you any tips on financial hacks but I can say what I do.

I live at Cedar Creek Lake, Gun Barrel City, which is about halfway between Dallas and Tyler.

We want to invest 20% and fix it a bit (the house is just 4 years old and just need some tlc.

And if there is a smart way to approach this, I would like to know about it.

I would gross $200,000 before other costs.I believe the demand is there to get ownership of a beach house for $250k; especially since conventional financing is now available and beach houses are only used for 3-5 weeks a year at most.

@Jeff Nash is located in the DFW area and would be a great person to connect with!

What are some best practices when working through due diligence at the phase of projecting cost?  

There is no way they lend the entire amount of the house because a cash out refi would never meet that amount after a rehab.