It was a learning experience but I made it work in the end.Mine was a 5 unit commercial building that needed a gut renovation, similar to yours. 

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

That home was in Milpitas CA.. probably worth about 1 mil today.. but I lived there 2 years sold it made over 50k and I was off to the races.. primary home equity as I look back 50 years of ownership and multiple homes has made me well over 2.5 million in tax free gains. 

Ask for historical financials and what adjustments were made for the OM. 

Did they require you blueprints and plans be reviewed and made to conform to their standards?

A lot of those loans were made to people who never had a chance to actually pay back the loan and that resulted in a lot of people losing their homes.

Investing is tough here because its popular and saturated, but there are still good investments to be made.

My current agent suggested if it made sense financially, to do some rehab work to get the properties rent-ready, but I do not have the liquid funds to do so and sell these as-is.

Talking to others also gave me insight into different markets and strategies, which made it easier to figure out where I wanted to focus my efforts.A simple tip I’d give is to start small and grow gradually.

If you decide to keep your house, you can do an IRRRL after you have made at least 7 payments on your new mortgage.