Some Bay Area investors I know are: house hacking, rent by the room, mid-term rentals, STR (depending on your location AirBnbs may not work).

If they're serious, I encourage them to send me the request which I accept (after I've also made our House Rules clear).

Your also spending 4-5k a year in taxes on a 90k house. 

For example, one municipality local to me requires a sewer inspection because some houses still have gutter downspouts tied into the sewer system which is improper.

I would express my interest in buying the house.

The house has been featured in magazines and garden tours and is valued around $1.8M.

@Yents Ybrimovicyou should definitely start with a house hack.  

Hopefully as the rates and the housing market loosens so will some of these guidelines in the HML programs. from talking to hard money funds especially those who operate in more than 10 states, and 5 years of experience with underwriting teams, I'd actually disagree and say new construction is preferred to rehab due to experience level to enter the market. there's BP lenders that will do 15% LTC with 1-2 new build experience.

I'm looking for folks to make the house their home, not a 12 month pit stop after all.  

I did a house hack in Columbus, Ohio.