A family member had offered to lend the money from a home equity line he had on his home.

@Antonio Aceves If you are the buyer and paying cash ask your financial institution your paying from to issue you a proof of funds letter on their company letterhead.

More specifically:Live where you want: Short-term rental laws in many U.S. cities are somewhat in flux, with many cities instituting a primary-residence requirement, meaning you must live in the property in order to rent part of it as a STR.

I was referred to a lender who is not affiliated with a bank or major institution, something I am not at all familiar with so apologies for my ignorance on this.

But, if it is a conventional institutional loan, you could double app, or your Mortgage broker could, and then each lender would order their own appraisal (hopefully, from a different appraiser).

The draw back to these loans is that they are more paperwork heavy than the other "portfolio" types of loans....but if you have ever received a loan on your primary home, it's likely that you will go through the same type of paperwork here with conventional lending.

If you want another check on it some banks/credit unions may even take a look (in the hopes of getting the loan) and let you know their thoughts on how they would lend on this property. 

Finding lending for renos on a primary residence seems to be hard to find.

The will typically lend between 80% to 90% of the total costs not to exceed 75% of the ARV.

My company lends in Michigan and I'm happy to help.