However, a STR is not considered a rental activity (section 469 of IRS code) if your rent it 7 days or less on average customer use and therefore not passive for tax purposes. 

Back when the house was built it was up to code at 6".

@Gabriel Mesa Fairly straightforward in the suburbs.In the City of Detroit you can NOT use zip codes, you can use Neighborhoods if you know what you are doing, but you need a trusted local to check out block-by-block to finalize decisions.Since there's a lot of rentals in the City, you also need to decide BEFORE you start a rehab, if you are targeting selling to a landlord or an owner-occupant buyer.- You tenant-proof a rental, but need higher finishes on an owner-occupant.

I think checking with the city to make sure they are okay with the product from a code standpoint, would be the most important thing.

And you would still be subject to code violations since you are the deeded owner. 

Is it built to 'living space standards' and up to new IRC codes?

If anyone could provide some insight into where the best areas and zip codes to invest would be and also any referrals to boots on the ground would be amazing!

Do you have numbers/percentages of what a breakdown of owner occupied vs rental houses in a neighborhood or zip code that you service?

Conditions and compliance of the property code would be taken care of during the sale of the property.

It's all been very professional so far.After I closed, Homeroom did the work to add an extra bedroom (6 rooms total), bring it up to code, and get it listed.