I have recently started helping my grandfather, who has had a decline in health recently, handle and manage his investments.

He was great to work with and had an attractive product and clear communication and great assistant that made it all very seamless.

Also keep in mind the appraisal industry has been in decline for a few years.

Given your time horizon, your lender have a floating rate product [the HELOC] tied to a fixed rate loan, which is a bad idea, never mind the fact that they could call the HELOC at anytime. 

You can also use less then 2 years SE if the previous year is enough and your year to date profit and loss is not less or declining from the previous year. 

I am a product manager based in Chicago and currently working toward my first house hack.

If you’re going to spend $40-$45k in down payment, closing costs and a reserve, spend the $1k and meet the team and see the product!

Smoking or being a smoker is not a protected class and holds no legal basis to sue you if you decline them.

Then the majority of the rest of the income should go to your company because you have really created the ongoing value that drives revenue to the property.The exception can be when and owner or developer has painstaking developed an incredible product they are entrusting you with where you don't have to do any of the initial set up and can more easily take the reins on ongoing operations of the property.The best property managers are picky and often turn away lots of owners because they understand they have a brand to protect and because they know they bring a lot of value to the real estate owners or developers.My goal as developer and investor in this niche now is to create an incredible product to hand off to professional high end manager that knows how to be host to guests and is hospitality focused.

It is not up to the broker to accept or decline an offer based on proof of funds or anything else.