BP Nation, I am going to jump to conclusions here and assume this is a flip since it is in the rehabbing and house flipping forum and as such, it had to go.Now m advice might change if it was a rental in a lower end area.

@Sean Gallagher, it seems to me that you reached the conclusion: "its a shame but looks like its going to have to wait and I'll have to pass on the deal", DESPITE what everyone has replied!? 

However being a newbie I feel that my initial conclusion may be uneducated due to lack of experience.

I've done both actually, and have come to this conclusion by way of experience.

My partner concurred with my conclusion.

I believe the conclusion is that I do not have to update the stairs as per current code unless I am making any structural changes to the property as part of renovation.

Personally, I'd like to think that anyone dumb enough to ask that question is too dumb to find their way onto this forum.So, I am really not sure how you came to the conclusion that break even cash-flow, in and of itself, prohibits you from successfully refinancing and repeating.YOU do realize that the first and second 'R' stand for 'Rehab' & 'Rent,' right?

I apologize for the delayed responses, but I guess I have something setup wrong because I am not getting notified when people are responding to my posts.Anyways, I came to the conclusion that all of you did after I drove over.  

So in conclusion I would wait if I was you. 

The conclusion I am coming to is to use Patience.