There are some private or non-bank lenders that will refi you out of their own hard money loan once you've got renters in place OR the rehab is done and market rent analysis is sufficient/supports the DSCR they want to warrant a refi into a longer term.

You can raise the rent if the market warrants an increase and as long as you follow any required notice periods for increases per your state law.If HUD allows the additional parties, you may not have an option if they can be added or not unless they fail your screening criteria.

I was a warrant/pilot in the Army so I remember what it was like to live outside Mother Rucker.  

All in all it depends your experience and what works for you but in the deal you mentioned, I personally don't think 50k buffer is enough to warrant getting yourself into that deal and compromising your criteria that much.

There are products out there that will go for non-warrantable condos. 

I'm a former Army warrant officer....been in the investing game for close to 6 years now.  

But the unique circumstances could warrant a longer or shorter hold period. 

Alas, the homeless people are still on the property (im assuming so they can be his watch dogs) The police have done minimal help, they were able to go out there and arrest one man who had a warrant and got his name but he was unable to get the names of the other people.

Just don't want you to spend money where it's not warranted.

I know you could pick aside little differences in these comps but nothing that would warrant this big of a discrepancy and keep in mind this is just one example to give you an example of what I'm talking about.