I'm asking this because if the repairs and upgrades took longer than a year the private lender would feel like they are not getting their money's worth for the investment, but if they held the title/deed at least they would have ownership of the property till the debt is re-payed.Is this something that can work?

I have a decent chunk of money in savings (apart from an $8k emergency fund), no debt, no pets, no kids, no significant other, own my car and have very low living costs for my area (under $1k/mo for a room in a shared house, all included, off-street parking, have been here for 4 years).

(e.g. credit score, annual income, credit-debt ratio) Is there such thing as a pre-approval for a refinancing? 

Also, you eventually will run out of agency debt loans on SFRs, so at this point there is less reason to buy in your personal name. 

NOI = Income - Expenses (NOT including debt)CFBT = Income - Expenses - DebtCapRate = NOI/PricePaidROI = CFBT/DownPmt = Cash-CashYOU can go forward-looking and calculate out IRR which'll include principal reduction.

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If you will you debt to acquire the real estate, it must be non-recourse financing.

Hey Jonathan, Florida is very forgiving for Landlords and its probably one of the best states to get started. 

From what I understand, it is a formula used to determine the true cost (in percentage terms) of financing an investment when using both debt and equity.

@John Gardner You can refi them as long as they debt cover (min 1.2) and you have a long term tenant in place into a 30 year fixed program.