It is still listed as our primary residence, but we are not living there during construction.

Second, if you don't have it already, develop an aggressive savings plan, you will need 10-20k on the low end (down payment/closing costs/maintenance/reserves/etc..).

If your long-term plan is to occupy it as a primary residence, cost seg usually isn’t available, it’s designed for investment property.

A VA loan can only be used for a primary residence, but there are ways to house hack (like buying a small multi-unit, living in one, and renting the others).

In my experience here in FL most banks will only do HELOC on primary residence. 

I've included an example below to help illustrate this.So different lenders have different rates (which do vary even for DSCR loans) but these are factors they all consider.See example below:DSCR < 1Principal + Interest = $1,700Taxes = $350, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $50Total PITIA = $2200Rent = $2000DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2000/2200 = 0.91Since the DSCR is 0.91, we know the expenses are greater than the income of the property.DSCR >1Principal + Interest = $1,500Taxes = $250, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $25Total PITIA = $1875 Rent = $2300DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2300/1875 = 1.23If a purchase, you also generally need reserves / savings to show you have 3-6 month payments of PITIA (principal / interest (mortgage payment), property taxes and insurance and HOA (if applicable).

Just make sure you’re factoring in maintenance, capital reserves, and management time.

I do have some more reserves in the stock market so could tap into that if needed for rehab/unexpected costs. 

Rentredi not resident!

Deferred maintenance, inadequate capital reserves, self management, “off the books” payment to employees/maintenance staff, free rental months to skew gross rental income, recording expenses to a different property, and recording of phantom income and phantom tenants makes me very suspicious of any financials provided by the seller.