I have seen brand new habitat homes built in the hood that given the age would be A's but given the neighborhood are C or D..conversely we see 100 year old homes in need of repairs in gentrifying areas that are A all the way.. its a combination.Account Closed  well said.. although I am glad to say as a C student I think I ended up on the shinny side of the penny.

If I can figure out how to get private funding or alternative funding of some sort (price is too high for anyone to loan as a SFR), is it a good idea to buy it?

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This conversion was done without proper permitting and approvals from the city and obviously the additional bedrooms are not showing in the county records.

Private lenders are all pretty much stated income - we mainly look to see that your strategy/plan is sound and you have money in the bank to make it happen.

To refi now or wait...I am at a point where I am about to refi a rental property in Reseda, California that is undergoing construction of a garage conversion to a ADU.

I want to get started in Real Estate Investing, I have a paid off home in Arizona. looking to refinance and do the whole BRRRR Strategy BUT the problem is that i am a foreign national and refinancing my home is nearly impossible I've called close to 20 banks and private lenders and most of them dont even deal with foreign nationals and the ones that do make it nearly impossible to invest with the high points closing costs and rates. what i was thinking of doing is adding a U.S. citizen ( partner) to the tiltle of my home in order to refinance thru them and gt the best rates most money and lowest closing costs possible.

Hannah,If you private message me, I am happy to share our rental application and resident selection criteria.

He currently places a very low value on it based upon your conversation. 

Home is in a c+/b- area with private driveway.