People at each of these agencies said that it did not sound like it was legal, however no one could confirm it for me (bureaucracy at its finest!)

Most are fimiliar with the banks procedures and can get things done quickly.

I am getting conflicting information as to whether hard money lenders have to comply with the same lending guidelines and procedures starting Jan 1, 2014 as those that do owner financing.

This way there's no extensive short sale procedures which will cost them money also.

Will HUD renegotiate their contracts or what is the procedure?

Then you need to know the finance side, finance regulations, collection laws, insurance assignments and under what circumstances you may keep loss proceeds, need to know notices required and foreclosure procedures.

I would call the sheriff and see if they will give you I go on the procedure and how it works.

As far as the financing, you will need to get acquainted with multi-family underwriting procedures since a 5 unit will not meet the 'typical' 1-4 family underwriting guide.

This is a great one to learn and you'll want to remember and write it in your procedures so you can't forget.

For the properties that my business manages as well as our own holdings our general procedure is that we do annual inspections on single family rentals to check the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors as well as a overall condition of the property.