The draw back to these loans is that they are more paperwork heavy than the other "portfolio" types of loans....but if you have ever received a loan on your primary home, it's likely that you will go through the same type of paperwork here with conventional lending.

I am just not sure whether there there is any particular draw back in just putting it on top of the older one. 

Are there tax benefits/drawbacks to doing it one way of the other? 

The home will be close to 5k sqft but a drawback is that it must only be 1 story.This same friends dad has a GC license which we will use and he also owns a building materials company so we will be able to get a lot of the materials at a lower cost. 

Plus new sewer should always be permitted unless it falls into the repair category...expensive and if the slope is wrong all kinds of bad repercussions...unless maybe you have 100% faith in plumber and much less in inspectors, maybe, but even then waiting on the sewer inspection shouldn't hold up anything else so no real drawback.

It may not as it has it's drawbacks....and the ICE crowd likes their toys and that will never change.

Only drawback would be the furnishings, but those can actually be rented by the month!

Some neighborhoods have some great returns but other draw backs.

I don't hate the DST but it has big drawbacks. 

Are there any potential drawbacks?