Luckily structural/engineering reports came back great and inspections didnt call out anything significant.The numbers:Bought the home off market and paid my real estate friend to set up all the contractual information and represent me.

If you don't have flood insurance you could lose the structure and no city/county/state does free clean up. 

Cash-out refinance pros: interest rates tend to be lower than HELOCS, you have the flexibility to do whatever you want with the proceeds, interest from the mortgage may be a tax deduction, and there are multiple types of loan products and structures to select from. 

The VA loan is structured to protect you- the property cannot have any health or safety code violations.

@Gaganpreet DubbThere are a lot of tax considerations when foreigners(non-US Citizens / non-US residents) invest in the United States.1) Do you need to apply for an ITIN2) What is the best entity structure that will have your taxes reduced in both the US and your home country3) Is there a Tax treaty between the US and your country - If yes, how does that effect things?

Not familiar with the area, or the rules in your state, but you might be able to find better loan terms if you structured it as a second home and used it as a STR for the first year.

Sorry, I' fairly new to corporate structure. 

This would be a lot of work with your structural engineer, but I'm assuming could have major upside.

@Jay Hinrichs This sounds high to me, even by CA standards sinc ethis is a remodel only without adding any square feet ths no structural engineering needed.

What is the best structure?