Transform 5-unit to 4-unit

[Dan Tracy]

REI newbie here! Just recently closed on a house that was converted into a 5-plex a while back. It's pretty frickin' old, but that's another story.

One of the units is a pretty bare-bones efficiency unit and I was thinking of knocking down a quick wall to combine it with another unit. This would obviously turn it into a quadplex, which (as I understand) would accomplish a number of things:

-It would be a residential dwelling, so I could refi into a traditional mortgage instead of this commercial loan I'm on now

-my insurance wouldn't be as astronomical; I've ran into tons of problems insuring this place simply because it's technically an "apartment"

-there would be fewer tenants to deal with and fewer headaches

1. Are any of my assumptions incorrect?
2. If/when I make this transition, what do I need to do to get it publicly registered as a quadplex, so I can start enacting all my schemes?

[Jeff Kehl]

have you run number on it both ways? generally to me more units is always better and I'd be surprised if the cost savings on financing and insurance made up for the lost rent.

also, you're going to get a permit for this change right? otherwise no one else official knows about it so neither do the lenders or insurance companies. 

what else will the inspector find while they are there?