Also know that building a home seldom goes as expected - I have relatives that just built a nicer house… they thought it would take 9 months… it literally took 18-24 months between delays in permitting and the builder just not being able to get it done in a timely manner - often due to sub-contractor issues.  

One thing to consider on the credit card option is that a lot of contractors don’t accept them so that could be an issue.

They might only skim an inspection report and trust me to find issues.

This takes care of most of the issues.

The seller would need to include a clause saying what you CAN'T do, which is what a pre-payment penalty would address. 

We rarely have issues, but it seems like such a small investment in time and money to take one day to verify. 

I even try to unsell them on the business by sharing my financial losses, litigation,  market shifts, permit purgatory, shady contractors,  clouded title issues,  paranormal activity, squatters, mold, etc.

The other non-math issues I'm good handling myself. 

Do you know if this would be an issue when it comes time to having my 5 year DCA inspection in ( mid 2025) as the property is only register with them as a 4 family?

We are eventually going to have to address this.