And we have a VA appraiser here that kills deals on the regular and in his mind he is helping veterans from overpaying.

Flexibility on purpose what you can use funds for.Other options are to save in regular mutual funds contributing on a monthly basis- taking advantage if dollar- cost averaging..You may want to talk to one of the financial planners.

This could mean that a high cash on cash ROI will be a bit harder to attain, but definitely not impossible.  

Duplex units in back currently rented for $600 each and 2/1 could easily rent for $800 so 1% rule is very attainable.

I am a commercial real estate attorney and deal with commercial leases regularly.

I have been reading books, BP blogs, and listening to BP podcasts regularly.  

But of most of the deals I've analyzed, (assuming I'm budgeting for safe 10% maintenance and "regular" rates of tenant vacancy - 5% or 1/20 months), there's no way to achieve those sorts of returns, even with a 80% LTV leveraged position.So am I missing something?

If you have made any effort to reasonable air seal the building envelope, then you need the range hood to extract stale air and humidity as a regular air exchanger will not typically be able to adapt to accommodate cooking.Even if your house is not tight, it is still appropriate to properly vent the cook top to prevent moisture damage and grease build-up on the ceiling above.

deal with this type of issue on a regular basis.

HI Bradford,Most lenders can do the 203k FHA streamline or full K / standard program or the home style conventional loan program.The problem is most have not done a rehab loan program or have construction experience  or the process on the lending paperwork side.There is quite a bit of paper work such as:- scope of work + revised scope of work or adjustments- consultant review depending on the depth of your construction project and work being done- resume for contractor- certain lenders have requirements for contractor experience such as you cant GC (general contractor) your own project and such- reserves or margin of error in the project such as the 35k streamline 203k loan which only leaves about 28-30k of actual construction cost with the remaining 5-7k for reserves and contingency- only 203k standard FHA can finance your carrying costs (so you dont have to make a mortgage payment during your 6 months of construction)- Home style conventional rehab loan cannot have a project that is more than 50% of the after improved value (meaning your rehab cannot be 250k on a 450k valued project after you finish) youd have to lower your rehab to 225k or less in this example) This is not limited on 203k products- much moreAfter the construction details and process theres the typical financing aspects which include regular FHA or conventional qualification guidelines.The rule of thumb though is to qualify for way more than you need or to do a max purchasing power assessment to see how much borrowing power we have to ensure we have enough room to budget for the 1) purchase, 2) rehab / construction budget, 3) reserves and contingency budget to fit in loan approval criteria.Let me know if you have any questions on what to look out for.