Steven Mitchell Currently manage projects of that nature.

The only reason it is structured as unsecured is if 1) the borrower's net worth is substantial and it's basically a credit card or 2) collateralize funds cannot be secured for a specific reason (such as high volume inventory purchase/sales) but the ave balance stays constant.

I have a duplex that is basically breaking even but we will save $550 by going from a 5.5% fixed down to 3.5% on the remaining principal (no cash out).

I have no idea what a project like this costs and need some insight. 

Yes it is just a "construction" loan basically.

Can anyone suggest an investor-friendly Real Estate Agent/Broker and Contractor for my repair projects in Houston, TXThanks 

In our project actuals there was  ~8K in costs that would not have occurred if we did not have to clean-up after the pets.

Your realtor should at least be able to at least give you some basic information about the tenants.

In my opinion, there's not substitute for hiring a contractor who specializes in stucco and pay them to access the project on-site and quote the job.  

Based on my projections, I would be able to purchase the 2nd rental after 3 years.I would then continue to use this plan (saving all rental income towards down payments) to purchase additional single family rentals around a similar price point of $150k.