Just curious, Clint....is that enough of a legal paper trail to satisfy your accountant and/or the tax man if/when necessary? 

Now if there is a bar, restaurant, retail, or other commercial use and its legal, then it could be considered commercial from a lending standpoint.  

I'm not an attorney and this is not legal advice, that's why I used the word "might".

Which unfortunately these comments require extensive legal time which equals a lot more money.

Not making these repairs is not an option, you can't just not fix things or you lose tenants and suffer vacancy loss, potentially have legal problems, and just end up with more differed maintenance/ bigger issues over time if you don't stay on top of repairs. 

This is mostly so I can seamlessly stay legally compliant.

Technically the HOA foreclosure was invalid but that is a completely different issue as you never go off tax record to see who owns a property you go off of recorders office and depending on state have to list junior liens in the complaint. .

It has to be much higher than $10k to be worthy of getting a lawyer to pursue (assuming you do not have a friend as a lawyer) as it likely will be $5k minimum in legal fees.2 decades ago I had a $45k non disclosure issue ($45k two decades ago was a lot more than $45k today) in San Diego.  

The previous owners had built a studio apartment that wasn't legal living space.

QuestionI stopped by and look like the property is vacant Can I get inside legally and just make it ready for rent it out and move forward?