I appreciate the quick response and simple over view of where to start. 

i think having 'discovery calls' with multiple brokers/lenders is always a good idea. see what loan products they can offer you, what their rates are like (but note that many tell you one thing & ultimately have to close you at another), and most importantly make sure you have a good gut feeling about them. make sure they're responsive and want to educate you & don't try to win your business by sh*tting on other lenders. it weirds me out that the person you talked to had said what they said. to my knowledge, rate shopping & getting your credit pulled for it multiple x in one 30-day span is just fine. all those hard inquiries fall off anyway. it's worth it to get a great loan product and a great rate. and they're wrong - not all lenders have the same products to offer!

CMA seems responsive, but is unable to take care of basic maintenance when notified or deal with a rental upgrade during a turn.

It's my responsibility to vet the "deal". 

Hi everyone,I want to thank you all for your responses. 

Thank you all for your responses to my earlier 1st post. 

This is a great response!

@Sarah Weaver, Thank you for your response.

Also you’ll need to check with local ordinance if converting to boarding house is legal and steps needed to do so (you don’t want to pay assuming those numbers to only be told you can’t do it)you hml money you can roll into your conventional loan but you’ll need to understand the scope of time from the Gc to make sure it’s feasible Thank you for your response.

Secondarily, even if you feel you have a viable claim it's important to understand who will be responsible for payment in the event you succeed.