Preapproval doesn't quite work the same in commercial financing because it's mostly deal-specific and much less you-specific.Talking to your average real estate agent, or even your average residential lender like myself, isn't going to get you far at all in the 5+ unit space. 

But I didn't have safe spaces at my university either.

Buying the beneficial interests of heirs in a decedents estate has more possibility of trouble than these forums have space to list.

I love to talk about it, as do most investors in this space.

Even in very exacting jobs (e.g. space craft design), where even a small mistake is literally a mission critical life & death issue, they use 'rules' to avoid over-engineering (or to use another phrase 'analysis paralysis').The 'rules' for real estate investing are not intended to be exact or fully comprehensive.

The purchase would be negative cash flow at the moment but it'll be positive in 8 years when the lease for the commercial space is up. 

The listing sites are also confusing, as I thought that under-ground living spaces were not supposed to be included in the total sq. ft.

This would work well for us as our family is growing and we are in need of more space.

Unless you live in an area where a garage is a must, living space will always get you more money than garage space.So, unless the conversion is absolutely horrible, I would keep it.

Most anyone with a lot of experience in the space has absolutely no need for what you present.. they just do it themselves... ergo my first thoughts if you just want to jump into this you need your family to back you..