One thing you'll have to consider is that even if you have a good hard money lender, you'll still have to have some "skin in the game" or money that you bring to the table.

A good CPA will protect you from yourself here.You need a regarded tax entity (partnership, S Corp, or C Corp) at the other side of the table if you want a true self-rental for income tax purposes. 

The overall black/white them with nice, warm wood accents is my favorite right now and looks amazing. 

At the closing table it's all cash to the seller anyway, financed or not.

I was told by my GC that depending on the perc test the town could make me put in some $40,000 system if the water table is high.

Of course if you're leaving money on the table in lost revenue from poor software, that point is moot.

You could bartend or wait tables for 3 months and save 9,000.

I would run it with 165 appraisal or 180 appraisal and find the bottom that you are comfortable with leaving on the table.

I could bring a little money to the table and I’m willing to take risks.

Right now the performance is surprising since most of the assets in our portfolio have equity above both the senior and our loan, so borrowers are either refinancing us out or coming to the table to negotiate a loan mod to protect their equity.