Out of curisosity, are you considering utility reimbursement portion as "Owner making money?" 

The key is finding a reputable house-moving company in your area that can handle permits, utility disconnections, and logistics.

These factors typically indicate strong rental demand and potential for property value increases.

It also doesn’t typically mean the overall premium goes down, as the other rating factors are increasing more and this tiny decrease is lost in the overall total.   

Typically you can get a window egress installed for $3k-5k.Not aware of a Metro Detroit city that will allow the conversion of a SFR to 2-4 units in an R1 zoned area.- You can improve your search by only looking in R2+ zoned areas.- Will still be challenging to acquire a SFR at a low enough price to justify the cost of any conversion.Regarding Michigan property taxes, we have a one-page explanation document we'll share if you DM us. - The challenge in Detroit is that the city is "deliberately" keeping SEVs low to not scare investors away over property tax increases.

What we typically see is a contractor trying to act as a bully as most homeowners are push overs.

This is my first purchase (don't want to do anything stupid) and the rents could swing 600/month depending on what I'm allowed to do in the basement - I'd be in the red from a cashflow perspective if I can't duplex them.Am I rolling the dice here / do you not typically find out for sure until you close and begin renovations?  

Due to personal faith based reason, I prefer to only invest in all cash deals that don't involve traditional financing (so typical passive RE options like syndications, RE funds with fixed returns, REITs etc are not a viable option for me).

If you are seeking a more traditional DSCR type loan, then typical guidelines apply; Credit, Liquidity, and Experience. 

When there's tenants already occupying the property, there's often times different leases that were signed among the tenants.Additionally, renting by room usually sees higher tenant turnover which in turn causes more work for the PM.Other challenges to consider:- Disputes/conflicts among tenants (different personalities if a tenant doesn't know the others prior)- Occupancy limits- Splitting utilities (what if someone uses more water?)