Contrary to what some may say on here, tenants are going to be more willing to conform to and play by your rules.

I'm under contract for a non-conforming 2-house property in Warren Michigan I plan to lease out.As part of review, seems the city has excessive inspection requirements (every 2 years) and open-ended rules on the inspections.  

You can look at getting an administrative adjustment which will allow for additional non conforming use to it's current zoning.  

There are many creative hard-equity programs and techniques such as: Low starting interest rate = Hard-equity loans have higher interest rates than conforming loans.

Financing is also a concern when looking at buying a non conforming property. 

I have been looking at the county websites for King, Pierce & Snohomish counties and I am still not finding the exact zoning codes I need to be looking for to determine whether a property is truly a conforming property.

conforming?

The building has five units (one is non-conforming) and ability to convert the attic into an additional unit.

Now a conforming, conventional loan (Fannie/Freddie) will also want strong reasons as to why you are using their money to buy another primary home within the first 12 months of buying another property...especially if it's with the same lender you got your FHA loan from. 

We needed to get a non-conforming loan to purchase the upstairs unit.