An old home, to be safe, will probably need an entire new chimney liner.If you permanently seal the opening and make a decorative focal point out of it (I HAVE seen a fireplace turned into a water feature!)

Make it permanent.

Permanently affixed?

You normally will have 1 year to get it completed and converted to a permanent loan.

Then refi into a permanent loan.

Federal Spending must be reduced CONSIDERABLY, and taxes must also be reduced PERMANENTLY, e.g. the Death Tax, Corporate Tax, Capital Gains tax, and a STRONG reduction in income tax across the board, but focusing a larger cut on the 25-33% tax bracket.

For instance, if I buy the 9 unit for $215k using commercial loan for 75% of price and short-term private loan for other 25%, and I want to refi my downstroke to a permanent loan after I get the rents up to par in 12-18mos, assuming bank will only do 75% LTV on a refi I'm going to need the place to appraise for $300k in order to get my cash out or rate and term my downstroke and other costs.

Chris unless there is land you can sell with this property or a way to change it's use I don't like this deal at all.Also the hard money lender saying they will mentor you etc. sounds great but you have to watch out for people that will separate you from all the cash you have.I think you would be better sticking with apartment buildings and line up permanent financing while rates are low.

I don't know if it's a permanent drop or temporary, so grab it while you can.http://itunes.apple.com/app/trip-miles-mileage-log-for/id477087593?

It's either $1,000,000 or $500,000 in a targeted employment area and you must "plan to create or preserve ten permanent full time jobs."