Is that correct?

You're correct on that.

We built our personal home from dirt up and while it definitely can be more challenging, you will capture additional value vs buying new if it is done correctly. 

I made myself take QB classes and struggled for years, my CPA said what I am doing is about 80% correct and it was a ton of work to clean up the files. 80% is not acceptable for me when it comes to IRS stuff.

Even though the house was originally bought with cash, this is still considered a 1st position lien, correct?

Sometimes the contractor will come in and tell you a low bid, but then once they open things up tell you you need to spend more to get it corrected because that was not in the bid.

They generally don't want unpermitted issues on the books any more than you do.Better to do this ASAP and not mess with it, you want to show that you are serious about getting this corrected.

You are correct, the only way to use hard money is to have them cover the purchase and the rehab.

Verifying rental history often takes a long time tocomplete due to applicants not giving us correct landlord contact information, landlords not returning our callsor refusing to give us any details.We also deal with applicants trying to have family or friends pose as theirlandlords.

If you are correct, I think it's far more than just the multifamily market that will be in trouble.