Start your first house hack by educating yourself, defining your criteria, and getting pre-approved for a loan.

We make them pre-pay two months rent plus the leasing commission. 

It's paid but their listing, pre-screening and showing is robust.

Alternatively you could explore a fully pre approved loan commitment to present to the developer and likely still negotiate aggressively.

I was pre qualified for a DSCR Loan shortly after buying my first house but due to financial constraints to come up with 20-25% of the down payment I feel like I’m stuck.

For what it's worth, some ideas I've seen pitched are grocery bundles (e.g. a breakfast bundle for 2-4 people with eggs, bacon, bagels, cream cheese, and OJ all pre-stocked in the fridge), meal kits, a pre-stocked drink fridge, charcuterie boards, premium coffee selection, bike/e-bike/scooter/kayak/canoe rentals, video game consoles, upgraded work-from-home office amenities (e.g. oversized computer monitor), etc.I'm not a lawyer, but cocktail kits, bottles of wine, local craft beer, and other alcoholic items seem like they would fall into a grey area from liability perspective. 

An FHA mortgage will not have a pre payment penalty.

This makes no sense to me as mission beach should have zero limit as it has been a vacation destination with STRs pre AirBnB (including ours).  

The problem is most loan officers will not know this up front because they fail to do a "pre-underwrite" and get a "Loan commitment" versus a pre-approval letter.regardless of you using your own money they will "Not" use the higher appraisal value they must go off of the legal sales contract.

Having a Pre-approval letter or better yet a loan commitment and a Banker to call and reassure the sellers agent you can close in 30 days or less also offers a huge advantage.In this market using a DPA is not a bad idea since rates are high and when they drop you simply refinance for a lower rate and payment.