The bookkeeping is poor at best.

Let's say that I want to get a mortgage credit certificate (MCC) on a home that I am going to live in. 

Shop around to local/regional banks and credit unions.

I had a similar situation; after calling most major banks/lenders, and getting "no actuary will every approve that," I was able to work it out with a local Credit Union. 

I will not rely on data from the internet as it's a poor method of determining property value. 

We thought about using credit cards to fund the renovations but don’t want to risk damaging our credit score to do so.

That said, there are many poorly run communities that contribute to ongoing depreciation as do smaller sizes and original poor quality of the home.

Financing:  My credit is good, but again I want to clear up some personal stuff first for peace of mind. 

Flipping houses and owning rentals are only similar in the sense that the underlying asset is property -- beyond that, they are completely different strategies that fulfill completely different investment needs.Every investment strategy requires you put in some combination of the following:- Time- Cash/Credit- ExpertiseAnd every investment strategy generates some combination of the following:- Profits- Cash Flow- Tax BenefitsWithout knowing what you have to put in and what you're looking to get out, there is no way anyone can recommend a particular path.

@Jeff Whelan Yeah it seems @Christopher Phillips didn't understand that you're talking about a house you've taken over the payments on.I'm not sure about lenders in the US but here in Canada if the seller shows them the lease they will only credit 50-75% of the income toward their income for the purpose of DTI calculation.That's probably the best your seller is going to get if you've taken this property over on a lease option.