A home with an all dirt yard is going to appraise lower than that very identical home with lush grass, flowers, nice hard scaling, trees, etc.People pay more for nice looking so your curb appeal is very important no matter if it is a rental or a flip.

Make certain that you are assigned a detective that is knowledgeable in handling financial fraud investigations. 

The contract you should sign with the carpenter is similar if not identical to one you'd sign with a GC.

With renovation loans, whether 203K or Homestyle (Conventional), to prevent fraud, all of the funds and work have to flow through a GC, and none of the funds can flow to a borrower as a subcontractor.

Trying to figure out how to hide an asset from a debtor could also imply fraud. 

Reason being is that you have access to peoples SS numbers with this service so they don't want a security issue or chance of identity theft. 

It had me verify my identity before I could view the report.

And never, never just sign with just the trust identity and not include the trustee.

I reached out to my contact at the Lafayette Housing Authority (Louisiana), and she told me that charging my tenant anything over their voucher was considered fraud.

And you do NOT want to be caught committing mortgage fraud by not living in the property.