However, that is a joke and it will get made permanent. 10 years and 5% + CPI was just a soft way of introducing it.

Unfortunately they are just soft liners.

I use both as a RE investor between commercial and residential as both can be used on 1-4 unit properties (non owner/investment occupancy).The pro's of commercial/portfolio financing from local credit unions and community banks are that you can:- talk to a local banker/lender who is interested in building a relationship with you over time and is flexible to make a loan as long as its financially prudent and you show a track record- ability to build a track record with- less documentation scrutiny than a fannie/freddie conventional loan which is more ridged because it needs to be sold to the secondary market so all boxes must be checked to do so (otherwise the loan is unsellable or undeliverable)- is cashflow based via debt coverage ratio or DCR method of qualification (Net operating income / debt service) - can fund to LLC's, entities, and businesses with personal guarantee (PG) usually- can do unique loans like cross collateral or blanket notes across an entire portfolio, can do rehab/construction + permanent financing into one (one time close products), can do soft liens and releasable upon progress on your projects so you can leverage equity with temporarily encumbrances, unique disbursements on credit facilities,etc Hope that helped compare the cash out options.

Add the city fees on top of all that and the soft costs and things can add up fast.   

Just the delay and soft casts with building seem a lot.

@Iva Kadagidze Think about also investing in your "soft" skills like communication and negotiation. 

Now onto the soft costs.

Right now I'm doing my homework and brushing up on the different neighborhoods, researching a few properties and trying to get a handle on spotting good "deals".

@Carl Suverkrop Only the Limited 203k is capped at $35k in rehab costs and because of the soft costs associated with it, contractor pricing needs to stop at $30k.

The other soft spot of the market are class A condos in downtown Denver.