The supply is artificially shortened by the one company that controls most of the worlds diamond supply.

I know I still have lot of research to do before I can talk intelligently about any of the un-conventional options, so I haven't chosen a particular path I want to go down at this point.The main reason I'm asking is because there are some turn of the century, mixed use, properties I'm looking at with retail space below and apartments above.

Guessing there are some rules on this with Air BnB but hopefully if the rehab is consolidated to unused bedrooms it won't be an issue.Basically trying to approach my first house/deal as intelligently as I can.

But understand that your ROI is now going to be artificially inflated as the true cost of the sunk fund expenses will not hit NOI. 

We are working on networking with wonderful, intelligent folks like y'all locally, so we can gain the knowledge and resources necessary to find off-market deals and work with sellers directly going forward.  

Especially for intelligent people like yourself, school isn't necessarily about learning the content, it's about learning how to work with others, negotiate difficult social issues and to provide others with information and products in the way they want to see them.

That tells me you're dealing with an intelligent seller.

That $3000 pays for not only the evaluations of the property by local real estate professionals familiar with the market, it pays for the real estate professional in our office who  goes through the numbers of the deal with the borrower to make sure that it is even worth ordering evaluations, it pays for the project manager who goes through the contractor bid line by line to make sure that the bid is actually  what needs to be done and not some type of "buddy pricing" or artificially low so that it appears to qualify for financing.

There may be a few short forms to complete as well so that he can intelligently discuss loan options with you.

To confine your focus on proving there is a problem rather than seeking intelligent solutions is a waste of time.Now I would be among the first to not recommend buying a book for the answers, even though we do sell a book on one very specific piece of this puzzle.