Always apply the same standard to all applicants.

When turning basements into ADUs, and the breaker box, furnace, and water heater are down there, what are best practices for handling them?

New roof, new water heater, new Electrical panel, New HVAC, new Concrete driveway, new Concrete steps & walkout basement, Open space of kitchen and living room, fully finished basement with wet bar and new full bathroom, new windows.

There are many buildings with systems reaching the end of their life - Galvanized hot water risers, leaking vent stacks, aging window systems, outdated elevator and fire safety equipment.

Sometimes if you are renting the unit and it is not insulated properly, then you hear footsteps and conversations from next-door units, so tenants complain a lot, but there is not much you can do.Also, one time the unit above mine leaked water into my unit, and the HOA said I needed to talk to people living above mine to fix the issue and they didn't have the fund to fix the bathtub from leaking into mine, so I had to pay for the repairs.Sometimes working with HOA and is painful, but other times is easy if the unit does not have problems

Under the "moisture and/or water" section the sellers stated "water in basement during heavy rainstorm of june 2023. repair completed, sealed wall, added downspouts" with no mention what-so-ever about moisture....nor other walls that were painted over to hide water damage. 

Hey Jake, If your exit strategy is to pay off the balance asap, I would advise doing a HELOC.But I would consider a traditional refinance if you do not have an exit strategy lined up to pay the balance off immediately  and your blended rate (1st + 2nd Mortgage) is significantly higher than a standard cash out refinance. 

One unit has nearly the full back yard and has a lot of water irrigation.

That would give me enough time to repair the house to meet conventional standards and force equity for the cash out LTV %.

Which is used to keep pipes from freezing but guess that doesn't particularly mean it's a water/sewer line 🤔 .