I do not have 15-20% for a downpayment to traditionally buy another unit.

Unless your near a town stay away from traditional storage. 

Traditional bank loan? 

The property has been listed for 70 days and I called my buyers agent to submit a traditional offer.

@Kevin Nolan -  Well,... let's see...Cheapest -Mud/Paint-Fixtures-Outlets/covers/switches-Vanities-Appliances-Staging (Seriously.

As the heart of LA gets increasingly expensive, more professionals are moving further south toward the 10.As to your question: yeah, for any traditional loan, your income is going to limit your borrowing power.

However, if the appraiser was referring to the style of house, such as tutor versus mid-century modern versus Cape Cod versus traditional, etc, then yes, that has some merit.

I think it’s called MUD taxes if I remember correctly.

The first was a SFH home that I wanted to buy but didn't have enough Cash to get traditional financing.

2) Given my age (47), goals (cash-flow for retirement; longer-term wealth), and the fact that financing would have to be non-traditional (while I have access to a bit of cash, we are entrepreneurs whose tax returns do not look good in the most recent few years), is considering multi-family my best option?