Real estate rental is passive by definition regardless of the 500-hour test.Example: John is an architect and rehabilitates a certified historic structure.

I'm an architect by trade but have always loved real estate.  

If you need references for an architect or contractor, feel free to contact me. 

You may want to spend some time making friends in city hall that are on the planning/ zoning board they can help to give you insight on how to rezone the property (usually it takes a couple months, you'll need to file paperwork, pay fees, get an architect to draw up your proposed plans etc) attending zoning board meetings can prove helpful as well, perhaps you'll pic up some inside info there that can be used in your next deal. 

Add soft costs like architect, city entitlements, etc.

However, there are NUMEROUS properties zoned for multi-family and can be utilized as such by right based on zoning and square footage/lot size, but you must be willing to bring in an architect to change the floor plans and beef up your rehab budget to convert the use from SF to MF. 

Not all architects understand building costs.

This past summer BoCo made him redo the whole driveway to add one parking spot in order to renew his STR license, which cost $8k and ended up triggering the whole Site Plan Review process which was a major can of worms involving an architect to recreate the original house plans because the county didn’t have them on file from the original building permit in the 50’s.

I am currently negotiating my first deal so I would like to start working with an architect and interviewing general contractors who are able to work with a 203K loan.

I am an Italian architect/designer leaving in Chicago,IL.