It's zoned for 3 units and there is space to convert a free standing garage into another unit (but is that more desirable than a duplex with rent control laws?). 

Hopefully the deal had enough meat on the bone for there to be enough space for you to still be able to successfully refi when you originally planned on as long as interests rates don't make a substantial jump. 

This property definitely requires more management due to the per room rental and the quality of tenants isn't always the best, the main challenge I found is that because the spaces are shared it is often difficult to have a tenant take ownership for an issue (smoking, noise complaints etc) and therefore makes it difficult to enforce rules or evict a problem tenant.

style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 22px; font-family: "open sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; overflow: hidden; color: rgb(52, 65, 77); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; height: 1288px;">BRRRR and a TIP OF THE DAY : )RUN YOUR NUMBERS!!!!

If you are able to buy a single family home, you can rent by the room long-term, or if it has separate living space (basement, mother-in-law sweet, etc.) you can Air Bnb, and likely cover your mortgage and potentially make money while living there, especially in a hot market like Austin.

I’m going to guess no matter what I do (other than underpinning) this cannot be counted as a livable space.

Most people new to the space use a local (fee for developer) services.

Should I do a raised foundation, engineered flood openings, or fill dirt and do a normal crawlspace.

Business side has 4 parking spaces separate from the home’s 2 parking spots with room for storage.If the goal is to tear it all down and create a multi family 4plex in its place, what are my first steps to doing a project like this?  

With a detached garage, workshop space, basement or ADU ect - something I could turn into an extra room or at least into additional equity.