You need to speak with an investor savvy lender...you are talking to a robot in a cubicle at those big companies...find a local lender who knows the strategies.

I prepared the offer myself using standard state contracts with fillable PDFs and did electronic signatures, and sent it to her.We went back and forth she did her offer submittals on here end - it's an REO - and bank rejected, I resubmit, it went back and forth, all negotiation via text messages, then finally we made a deal.Then come time to inspect we had issues, water and electric not activated, shutdown due to non-payment.

Usually I write up a personal check, scan it and include that as a page in the offer submittal.

Go online to your city planning department and look through project submittals.

The full description of services they had with the architect was: "The architect shall prepare the architectural submittal set for conversion of bedroom into a bathroom at the single family house located at {address inserted}"The invoices for permits & architectural services broke down to the following:Architect Invoice - $1,300Invoice from City for Permits - $1,200Permit Runner Costs - $300

Having an architect or designer help you with the drawings for submittal will be key.

I just finished a new build that sold and have purchased another lot and am in the design and city submittal process for a new build.  

In fact there are now more agents than ever before.I know robots are coming for everyone's jobs across most industries, but I actually think real estate will be one of the more resilient in terms of the human element being necessary because it's at the end of the day it's always been a people/relationship business.

A robot built home in upstate New York hits the market for $299k as a completely finished home with complete utilities and all. 

Basically a maintenance technician and electrician in one with specialized training in robotics and plc programming.