It can be a flat fee with a sliding scale based on sale price.

Yes, based on that, it is possible, especially if it went down from top to a lower floor on a wall side.

I work with a retired man would can draw plans for houses and used to build houses. 

Leverage is based on loan to value.

Overall, gained $260K in value (based on appraisal) while investing $220K Lessons learned?

Decide if you want a two, three, or four-unit building based on what you want, your budget, and how much work you can handle.

I will continue to look for properties near military bases, rental history has been fantastic.

Just start looking for properties and let the property property decide if it wants to be a flip or a rental based upon then numbers. 

And others have pointed out that building in flood zones can be much more expensive with special permits, requirements like living area starting above base flood elevation, probably more than the $25K difference in the lot that's not in a flood zone.  

Hey @Sophia Oberlander, based on the tax court cases I've seen it would depend on how strong their other hours logged are.