The ones who bought 3/4 units in good area $500k+ buildings did great, these ran with no issues, rents increased/appreciated.

Hi, pre foreclosure in all of its permutations, before the bank sends Notice of Default (NOD) or efter which is state even county dependant but often starts a 4 week clock till the trustee auction are the 2nd most difficult deal scenario and IMHO only experienced investors should bother, the 1st most difficult deal scenario are bidding at the court house steps on lord only knows what is being auctioned off sometimes even 2nd mortgages, you need to do so much home work to attempt to reduce your risk at the court house steps...Pre foreclosure no one talks about these issues, always about the nice sounding stuff like "motivated seller" get a good deal etc etc both are usually not the case.- 95% of folks in pre or post NOD want to stay in their house, keep their house inspite of them 100% will loose the house at the auction. 

Issues 1) even garage conversion ADUs in single family zoned areas typically cost more to build than the value that they add.  

The biggest issue I see is that they are looking to restrict STRs in the area so why would I buy there knowing it could all go away.

And it was also during covid lockdowns so that added to my issues.

Debt is rarely a factor in their issue. the ultra wealthy I know  with a few exceptions have very limited debt.. to no debt. 

An in-house attorney would focus on resolving issues efficiently rather than driving up fees with extra billable hours, which can happen with outside firms.That said, I’m questioning whether this is the best perspective.

We ran into the same issue when we made our Costa Rica investments and didn't really find a good solution for a local mortgage there. 

Given that affordable housing is a national issue it seems that the more pathways to home ownership is a good thing.

Then you can avoid the self promotion issue.