All of this required some serious electrical, mechanical, and plumbing rework which has gone surprisingly smoothly due to some excellent subcontractors.  

This is a dog of a deal.Give it the Old Yeller' treatment...I'd be surprised if any experienced lender would even do a loan on this for you.  

Many a times we are hesitant to post a question, but surprisingly you will find there are lot of ways to answer the question and its always to get to have multiple perspectives.Also would recommend reading How do I find a Mentor?

He was surprised, but I think he passed on the deal.  

You will be surprised on what you will learn from a code inspector.  

You will be surprised how few there are in some markets.The lender will look at the past history of income and expenses.

They specialize in real estate, but it wouldn't surprise me if they know about cross-border work arrangements.

Originally posted by @Randall Gaddis:Although I'm a little leery of flat out approaching people, I guess I'm finding hard to belive people would help out someone who is potentially a competitor, maybe I'm not seeing it right, lol Randy,You'd be surprised.

The numbers makes it a good deal (assuming no surprises at inspection) even at what he's asking, though in reality I'm looking for something w instant equity. 

Don't be surprised if they want to install keyed locking doorknobs on their bedroom doors.