Your last two years are averaged to give you the 24 month avg net rental income that you can use as additional income on your application.Hopefully that makes sense.

Here are some points that may help others in their letter writing campaign:Be professional in you content - get to the point in the first lineDon't draw pictures on the envelopeDon't draw dollar signs around everything - don't draw pictures of stick housesBe yourself - tell your story; example - we are a family business, looking to purchase additional properties for our family portfolio - we can pay cash but would prefer some seller assisted financing, glad to supply references if needed - we live in the area ----etc.Forget the YELLOW thingDon't tell on yourself, don't call yourself an investor - Don't lie - I can settle in 2 days - we are big (like a made up name -) people like to do business with others they can identify with - be humble if that is possible.As for sending letters to vacant houses that are Free and Clear - why do all that research - a waste of time in my opinion!

I have the property under contract and will be closing with cash, I then hope to execute the additional transaction (sale from me to end buyer for the higher price), both transactions will be at same title company; double close.

When you get into adjusting for square feet thing get a little more complicated when you look at values for the marginal (read: additional) sq ft.  

Contact local community banks in addition to the credit unions to find a lender to do the Refinancing.  

Additionally, I have a lot of clients that are private money lenders if you are ever in need of financing.

If you cannot convert it into really useable space, what if you split it in half and put coin op washer/dryers on one side for your tenants use, and on the other side, put storage areas that tenants can rent for an additional fee.

For all you Dave Ramsey acolytes out there I invest in real estate now because without additional income my ability to pay off my student loans at my current salary (which is a good salary) plus living expenses etc... would mean not be able to pay back those loans and be debt free for at least ten and maybe 15 or 20 years down the road.

My question is would it be possible to get another HELOC, or home equity loan, etc. for an additional 30%-40% possibly?

Can you post any additional details about your deal?