Are you trying to afford a house much more expensive than your W2s could cover? 

They loosen the guidelines last year and made it much easier to get ADUs permitted.The other major risk by not permitting is if you decide to get it permitted later on, it is likely going to be more expensive.

You could also ask for early occupancy so you can begin to collect rent and take all the holding expenses off their plate.

When investing in real estate, having multiple exit strategies is key.For a single investment property, make sure the numbers work for both scenarios: 1️) If you decide to sell the home, the deal should produce a solid return. 2️) If you need to rent it out, the rental income should cover expenses and provide a profit.Flexibility is what saves you when things don’t turn out as planned.

So to help cover expenses and see some cash flow would focus on multi-unit property. 

Often times, cheap is expensive!

Instead of paying cash use that money and spread them over multiple dscr loan so I can own more doors and just collect the cash flow after expenses.

I also use the Costco/Citibank VISA cash back card to pay for expenses.  

It’s more expensive than PropStream, but the data quality is higher.For ARV calculations, if you don’t have access to the MLS, our Backflip App can provide it (it's good).

Until then, hopefully you can charge enough to at least cover your expenses.