I had a spare gas heater sitting around collecting dust. 

I have a question about 203K loans: Do I have to claim the target property as my primary residence, or could I spare a unit and make it my office (to make it work)?

Read the same article and saw how small the amounts were for people renting out some spare attic space or a parking spot ($20/$100 per month) which is chump change.

I have a cemented cage around the condenser itself - which probably spared me from losing that as well. 

I have spare sets of agitator dogs, refridgerator circulation fans, gas valves for hot water heaters, etc. 

If you have $3k/month or more spare you should be able to dig yourself out of any short term problems if you bought a sub $400k duplex (if they exist in your market).

I have prepaid some principal but I do not count that as cash in at this time due to the fact it was completely discretionary + since I have a full time job, I was choosing to throw a little bit of spare change towards the mortgage on top of what my tenants were paying me.

Sparing y'all the painful stories, here are my biggest learnings. 

At the time I had some deals in the works and did not have 2 more months to spare.

.), sell something like a spare car, jewelry, etc, rent your current house and live in your rehab and use rental income to fund construction, personal signature loan.