Also, keep in mind that the lender is looking at a debt return, not an equity return.The lender is going to play the odds and allocate its capital to someone with 'skin' in the game, who will have a vested incentive to have a successful project, and hopefully has previous, successful experience - as @Neil Aggarwal notes in his reply.Best of luck finding the $0 down financing and you're spot on that you won't know absolutely unless you inquire. 

He only invests in 2 specific spots so not sure if he's done his research or what .

I am currently trying to milk two different "Fortune Telling" strategies to spot early opportunities.

Tree limbs that overhang are good spots for mice to enter house.. yes up high..Pest control companies have great results they use a powder that mice contact and kills them.  

I have seen this for 2nd story and above but for the ground floor WITH a crawl space, nope.

In the Seattle market and surrounding areas you have to be extremely quick to take action and learn the market so well that you can spot a good deal as soon as it comes on.

I read an in-depth report by some local analyst who have been spot on about a number of real estate trends.

Maybe I could help, maybe trade services, I.e. website/data to market for a camp ground spot :-).   

If youre not married to the wood and you want to start over, AND you have "soft spots"...I would rip it out.That way you can put in what you want and it will go in right without affecting door gaps, cove base, and the like.

So you probably have to a find their sweet spot...create a landing page and then entice the individual investor...make it appealing (high return on investment) use software to do a hypothetical scenario --- a sample package -- or list previous deals in the pipeline (if you have any).