Google your [county name] Parcel Viewer or the equivalent of that in your area.

If the amount is small, there are ways to work that (message me).From the bank's perspective, generally, cash and hard money should be equivalent assuming you plan to waive financing contingency.Each bank is different, but they have procedures, bureaucracy, etc that would cause a delay in responding to offers.  

I determined it to be one of the rare instances regarding real estate where I would prefer to rent than own.In that situation, we could probably expect to rent a house out for the same amount each week that one might otherwise get per month if a typical 12-month lease (on an equivalent house, or a house that costs the same to purchase and rehab).

Equivalent to traditional financing or hard money rates?

My wife racked up nearly doctor-level debt going to pharmacy school, worked as a pharmacist for a few years, and we decided it wasn't worth the 120-130 hour combined work week every single week just so we could pay the equivalent of my entire pretty decent salary in taxes.

Honestly it was so long ago I could not really tell you.If I remember correctly I think our award would have been the equivalent of about 3 months after taking off the attorney fees (BTW never seen a cent of that).

My accountant told me that because of these fees and costs it might not make any difference investing in the US vs Canada because all of the additional costs could turn a sweet US deal into something equivalent to what I could get in Canada and thus not worth all the hassle. 

She's a smart lady and I see little chance of getting a low price, but if I can get seller financing at close to portfolio lending rates (~6%), it should cash flow for me and provide them the equivalent of a nice annuity. 

You can either hike the rent and offer "free power" to the tenant or become the equivalent of the utility and bill the tenant monthly.

If you have the Certificate of Occupancy (or equivalent) which states what your local building department has it classified for, then it should be clear what the attic/top floor can be used for bedrooms.