I own a mortgage company now that does both residential and commercial finance, but I spent years as a commercial banker with both big banks (First Union/Wachovia) and 2 community banks.

Secondly how does a bank look at it?

The struggle comes when you plan to sell, pay close attention to how the bank would treat the loan in the event you would sell.Even though its a bit more work, banks are typically open to these loans as it provides them with additional collateral in the event of default.  

When you go to a Bank or Credit Union, they can only offer you what products that bank or credit union offer.

Hey Aaron, have you considered a commercial mortgage from a local bank like First National or Bangor Savings Bank? 

Unless you explained to them upfront your plan your intentions when you purchase the house, they wont find an increase in their living a happy event. 

Kevin did a great job explaining why you shouldn’t bother. 

It takes a lot of phone calls and asking around, but you can normally find a local or regional bank that is willing to work with investors on these types of properties.Mike

As I studied earlier, the first thing you should do is marketing, then get a call and do a property analysis to understand if it's profitable for you, then meet with the seller and sign all the necessary papers, then if there is a debt in the bank we do a reinstatement quote, then do a title search to check if there are any hidden debts, if everything is fine we look for an investor or flipper and sign an assignment of contract with him and wait for closing to get our money.

I can check in with my local bank, but I don't want to waste their time when I'm not yet serious about doing a loan with them.