Maybe, if it was adjacent to a commercial zone and all the residential neighbors had to have a coffee shop and would support you till the end and the city wanted to bring in that specific type of business and the lot was so unique that it had to be there.

Lenders - how can one use combined equity in multiple properties as a down payment without selling or refinancing the individual properties?

These factors combined have contributed to a situation where rents are low for 2/1 units and SFH prices are high for 3/2 or 4/2 houses.The house itself needs some general work, and I am comfortable estimating the costs on that work, but I am not sure what it would cost to turn it back into a SFH.

The landlord was a little old lady who was smarter than all of us combined.

The lowest grade assets consistently underperform usually being a combination of 3 or 4 performing properties and 1 with a bad tenant dragging it all down.   

Combine a HML with unsecured lines of credit, preferably in the business. 

Found this small 1500sqft warehouse with 12' clear-height doors, open floor plan, open rafters and unique feel.

So although I don't think they are hugely important, they do have to fit the area and be as unique as possible in my opinion.

Used HELOC for down payment A unique property as the front side is a post office and the back side is a 2 bedroom house.

This property is unique in that I did not purchase it to be a rental property for cashflow.