An illegal unit was never legal per zoning/ building codes, and cannot be occupied without city approval. 

Keep in mind, tht 50% of the fee is usually offered to other agents that bring an applicant that gets approved.- All that being said, you can always negotiate, just be realistic.6) Call the city about the trash.

Work with a CPA to optimize your tax returns to reflect sufficient income for future loan approvals.

And just because another developer got approved for a certain style project near by doesn't mean you will.

Planning says nothing can be built there (well it could but it is VERY VERY VERY unlikely it would be approved per zoning).

With my w2 job, the agreement we sign to work outside the office specifies that we will work at a designated specific approved location (our home).

If you didn’t specifically advise on what to do, they drew it a specific way at the end of the day you approve the drawings to be built so it’s not their fault it appears and they should be compensated for the revisionIf it’s something they screwed up (does not appear to be case here) - then they correct their error

I just didn’t know my credit was so long until I chose to get pre approved.

I would call them and find out if they think you have a reasonable chance of being approved.

This option may not be ideal if cash flow would be so very small, or difficult to find cash flow property due to high interest, because if there it isn’t cash flow property loan won’t be approved.