I completely agree with @Mike Dymski this is apples and oranges, not haves and have-nots. 

Sure.Here's how I would put it together if we're claiming primary residence..... get a very well drawn out letter of explanation probably involving her office or location of work being near the subject property and have the employer document the request to be closer to work so the story flows and is plausible in the mind of an UW.Now if you're going to put down 10% anyway you could just structure it as a second home purchase as second homes can be purchased with as low as 10% down up to a max of 417k loan amount in most parts of the country and especially so in Los angeles, Orange county, San Bernardino, and Riverside, and Ventura counties surrounding you.

I'm in Orange County NY.

For Orange County it is http://www.ocpafl.org/Searches/ParcelSearch.aspx

I work for a boutique shop in the antique district on orange ave.

ALL RE is cyclic and Calif is typically an 8-9 cycle, especially in the most desirable areas like SF Bay area, Orange County.  2008 was a major down turn due to the mortgage industry collapse, not true property values. 

Hello All, my name is Alice Ham and I'm a realtor and new BP member from Orange County, CA.  

We are looking to do a flip somewhere close to home (Orange county/LA) and we have great credit.

So, who in the Jacksonville/Orange Park, FL area is interested in house hacking?

There is a local meetup in Lake forest every month that you should check out. http://www.meetup.com/Orange-County-Real-Estate-Investor-Networking/If you would like to meet up before then and talk about investing let me know.