This appears to be another article designed to capture eyeballs by creating controversy. 

A window A/C might keep it comfortable, but it often doesn’t meet the standard for counting it as fully finished square footage.

Get out of your comfort zone.

Sometimes, stepping out of our comfort zone is necessary to discover new opportunities.

What would help the community is for you to share as much info as you are comfortable, but the appraised values, current loan balances, and the current rents would be a good start. 

Agreed, I think these articles are primarily made as clickbait and designed to give homebuyers false hope of an impending housing crash.

Then, over time, probably a few months, start to determine who you would feel comfortable doing a deal with.

I have STR investors in Florida making 25% cash on cash returns, long term rental investors picking up properties directly off the MLS and cash flowing day 1 in various states, and house hackers completely removing their housing payment from the picture allowing them to save for for the next property.The beautiful thing about real estate is there are so many ways to succeed and a plethora of strategies depending on your comfort level and how active you want to be.

I am interested in interior decorating / designing and residential drafting.

There are also loans that are specifically designed for this type of property if there is enough work that needs done.