@Ryan BroschardHi Ryan,You have hit a common issue many new investors fail to anticipate.  

Also know that building a home seldom goes as expected - I have relatives that just built a nicer house… they thought it would take 9 months… it literally took 18-24 months between delays in permitting and the builder just not being able to get it done in a timely manner - often due to sub-contractor issues.  

I bet if converted BACK, it would be 4br+, probably a rather spacious 4br+: - a whole lot easier to rent given much more demand for such vs efficiency or 1brs- no longer competing in any way against apartments- no more utility issues, because tenants cover 100% of there own utilaties- no more headaches of wrangling different persons to play nice togetherAnd on and on and on...... 

The issue is: can the operator survive to that "long term".  

One thing to consider on the credit card option is that a lot of contractors don’t accept them so that could be an issue.

@Rachel Jane a lot of issues here to consider:1) Does the condo association even allow rentals?

I even try to unsell them on the business by sharing my financial losses, litigation,  market shifts, permit purgatory, shady contractors,  clouded title issues,  paranormal activity, squatters, mold, etc.

This health issue ultimately led to a close family member passing and now I don't believe they have any family living in our area anymore.2.

Redlining IMO would only be an issue if @Jimmy O'Connor said to stay away or refuse to do business somewhere; he did not do that, he just pointed out property characteristics.

As an example, we decided to replace the windows in a house we were renovating and ended up costing us $50,000 extra because we got into issues with permitting and suddenly found ourselves having to hire an architect, speciality contractors, etc.