They do require these to be done on Primary Residence, and they probably do have a credit component, but may not have an income component to underwriting.

Hey @Brandon Toron,Given your plan to turn the property into a short-term rental (STR), you have a few creative ways to push closer to that 90% cash-out goal, even if traditional lenders shy away from it:1. 

I’d love to take advantage of a “traditional” mortgage (or even FHA?)

Reason why is because FDIC Bankers "Do Not" charge points on traditional programs like primary homes, standard investment purchase and refinance, Second home/vacation homes.Lenders, Brokers all charge points to meet their Loan officer compensation plan (commission).

I talked to my lender contact and, as Kerry mentioned above, it's pretty uncommon that a traditional lender would offer a HELOC product on an investment property (non-primary home). 

@John Davey Interest on a home equity loan used to purchase or improve rental properties is deductible on Schedule E as a business expense, but not on Schedule A for your primary residence.

Being that the new property that we buy will become our primary residence and we are buying a fixer upper, how do we get the best tax breaks for the repairs and/or improvements?

Purchase price: $325,000 Cash invested: $150,000 This was our first primary home and was converted to rental after living in it for 10 years.

I don't think being a long distance landlord is as easy as some tout but full disclosure I've stayed with 80 miles of my primary residences. 

It seems like location would be especially critical with pad-split (and similar systems), but I’d love to hear your thoughts on what to watch out for in terms of zoning, safety, or demand.Also, I’ve traditionally rented out units the regular way, so I’m curious how screening tenants works for you with the pad-split (and similar) model.