Next came what I would call 'land speculation' (SDIRA purchases unimproved parcel and subdivides or does site improvements, then cashes out) followed by a distant last place - rental investment.

For now, I'm a cash flow investor first and an appreciation investor a distant second. 

The pre-approval process and the actual loan process are only distantly related. 

The near future is often cloudy but the distant future is always clear for those who look that far.

In most cases they will try and help where they can.Not saying this is right or wrong but I had a similar situation with a property and after getting past the underwriting and securing it I went to the city (Atlanta) and said I just acquired the property, realized it was a quad that was converted from a duplex sometime in the distant past but the building was still zoned as a duplex and wanted to go through the process of having it moved to a quad.

@Doug Smith I may need to pick your brain in the not too distant future.

However, it's important to remember this trend started in the not too distant past, and for a very long time before that the norm was separate rooms, so it's not surprising that there are actually considerable disadvantages of open floorplans and advantages of more traditional ones.Opening the kitchen to the rest of the house has to be one of the worst aspects of this trend.

There's honestly no way to know for certain the work is being completed correctly whether you are local or a distant investor unless you or an owners rep with knowledge of construction is there constantly checking on the work.

We're looking to move to Olympia in the not so distant future.

Don't forget to research local regulations surrounding MTRs and STRs, factor in management fees if you plan on outsourcing, and assess your risk tolerance between a larger, single multi-family property or multiple, potentially distant, MTR/STRs.