Do not, do not, do not allowed someone who is not a licensed professional to install the furnace, it will invalidate the warranty.The warranty should be able the same from every manufacturer, so you're pretty much even there.I wouldn't necessarily recommend flex duct, it is cheaper, but you can end up with integrity issues, even in the short run.My best suggestion is to find an HVAC supplier, and check to see what the prices are for furnaces ... this will absolutely open your eyes as far as material costs are concerned.  

Kyle M. you can do that, you can even bill them all together on one bill if you like, just itemize it so that they can see what's going to what.The 'best' way to do it would be to have the water company come out and put an official water company meter in for each unit, but I don't think I have to tell you ... that won't really help your current cashflow concerns!  

I had the same concerns 10 years ago. 

At that price and rent, I would be concerned that its in a lower class neighborhood, and be concerned with the issues associated with renting in lower class areas.As for the flood price, I have a duplex insured for $165k, new construction, built 1.5ft above base flood elevation (BFE), and my insurance was $650/yr, so if your property is in a flood zone, your policy will likely be more than $400/yr.With those rents, it will cash flow even if financed. 

This is my thoughts...Your main concern here is knowing how many times the floors have been sanded in the past, residential application is likely once when installed but if the floors are very old there is a chance they have been sanded down another time.

For the record I was not considering trying to bypass the rules but was more concerned with why others wouldn't.

My main concern with your strategy is that if you rent it out, and it gets trashed, you gotta throw more money at it (which I think you will have to after renting it out even if it isn't trashed) when you want to sell it in a year's time, but you will be back at square one. 

Any concerns w/ Class A multi-families now including self-storage options for their residents?

We bought that house in 2006, so as you can imagine, we are still underwater where LTV is concerned and our monthly NET is at a break even point.  

As far as the loan will be concerned they will be "single family."