I think it will be important for you to have a bit of a lengthy conversation with someone that can dial your questions in better and guide you in the path of making some money on your investment, not just selling you on the investment.

I plan on legally turning this area into its own unit at some point, but I understand this is an expensive and lengthy process and do not have the liquid cash to afford it at this time.

Sorry for the lengthy comment.

- I wrote a pretty lengthy post on this topic a while back and it's still very relevant.

One client has noticed as well the permit times on her doing ground up have gotten lengthy.

I could type a bunch of reasons why, but I’ll just refer you to a similar thread I commented on less than 2 hours ago with a lengthy post I made there that will hopefully be of help to you:How do i protect myself when getting a Private LoanSeems to be a lot of these scammers out there.

to my tenants when rent payments are close to due and again when overdue, which surprisingly seems to motivate my tenants who are usually a bit late to go ahead and schedule their payments. 

Lengthy waiting period in which the co-op board receives & reviews the purchaser's co-op application 4.

To explain all the methods by which these deals come my way would be too lengthy and not the point of my response, but I can share that with working with so many clients (Almost 4000) over the course of 20+ years and creating relationships with these people creates opportunities for them to let me know about any properties that they're aware of that are owned by a friend, family member or acquaintance. 

We are in an area with high turn over due to the market and don’t anticipate any problems filling the property.