I stumbled upon Bigger Pockets recently and have been listening to the podcast non-stop ever since!

We've been eying restaurants, especially QSR's but what we've been finding is that these are commanding a premium (especially if they're corporate tenants, not franchisees) and come with fairly low CAP rates and the ability to negotiate the prices is almost non-existent.

Also, depends on how much equity you have in the house or is it really required if you have a non-recourse loan with low equity?

Any way you look at it, if you dont plan on living there, it's a non owner occupied property and lenders will consider it an "investment" property.

It is a non-cash loss!

Non-flood zone.

Non-flood zone.

For me, it depends on the scope of non-permitted work, and the apparent quality of the work.If it's an addition, adding square footage, I can see it being an issue come taxes/appraisals/etc. 

25% down is the minimum on non owner occupied multi unit properties with conventional loans.

Pearland is similar in that there are not any major universities, although there are a couple of hospitals and Pearland is only a 20 minute drive to the medical center in Houston.