In the meantime, I wanted to play with the idea of seller finance. 

So if you refinanced at 80%, you'd still have a decent balance of the line of credit remaining, and it would still be a negative cash flow property.We may get experts on the Seattle market to chime in with their knowledge, I know the appreciation play is a lot more popular there than elsewhere. 

I'll play Devil's advocate.....why only California?

Then I’m Adding an adu in the next coming months with my cash as a value add play.

I was interested in the long term rental play with this duplex in addition to house hacking to improve my balance sheet now.

I want to try and learn every part of the process and play it out in my head so I am better prepared.

.:)  The real answer is to prevent churning or constant refinances in an appreciating market because the secondary mortgage market is built on mortgage backed securities and lenders would have to pay their yield spread back to the investors if the loans kept coming out of the security.You can go with a DSCR loan that doesn't require 6 months seasoning, but the terms are not as favorable as they would be if you waited and since you're playing the long game with the property, it's best that you wait.80% is available, but again, the terms are not nearly as favorable as they would be at even 75%. 

The two items that are generally at play are the GPM flow and the lead content in any fittings attached to potable uses.

The only plays i've personally seen with this type of asset that make much sense are fixing it up (really substantially, because remember it's already old and is just getting older by the minute) and then using a Seller Financed Sale as your exit strategy when it is time to sell.  

I am just unsure where the contact between myself and the appraiser comes into play when the lender is the one ordering the appraisal.