Winning their trust and saying that you're licensed and follow a code of ethics, unlike investors and others that may want to buy your home directly (they don't know the terms wholesalers).

They are also looking for code issues and other hazards which hopefully you are compliant with no matter what. 

- You can find this out by going to Zillow, selecting your Zip code or Neighborhood, and looking at current rental listings.

you choose one pay for it and they provide them.What I found out is they just send over the plans with no updates to current codes so we submit then and get check sheets sometimes 3 or 4 and takes 90 days to get approved instead of them understanding the new codes updating the plans before giving them to us.And to be fair to the architect we can send in the same plans and depends on which examiner gets them some will fly through others come back with check sheets that an examiner frustration issue.

At best it sounds like you broke even and made the money strictly through principal paydown with no appreciation above your costs unless you had some pretty good cash flow. 

The other thing to consider is the age and if you add a second floor will the entire structure need to be brought up to code for hurricane and wind.I live in a neighborhood where the homes are older (not in florida) and the foundations are hollow core CMU and adding a second floor would not be feasible due to soil bearing.

Creative financing, partnerships, or shifting to long-term appreciation rather than strict cash flow might also help in this market.

This has become increasingly problematic  with rising material costs and more burdensome building codes now present in most municipalities. 

Block construction cement floors with the floors sloping to a central drain. concrete counter tops stainless kitchen cabinets boob lights and minimum windows by code .

In my experience strictly med buildings are generally developed in the same way as part of a campus or off the path a bit from the main retail corridor, so it really is only suited for that use.