I'm guessing this is a conventional buy, so make sure you have and use your inspection contingency to check for it being an approved triplex, and make sure you have your financing contingency in case the appraisal comes in low.

I'm thinking save up and only pay minimums until I can purchase a house and then pay off the remainder of my debt or clear my debt, renew my lease, and wait until the year is up?

I know it can be done however I don’t know specifics so if you could detail how you were able to get the property approved and if you had any hiccups, what the solutions were, and you found a good deal, I’d appreciate it!

You may then request rent increase annually under LA county rent control laws and they are very likely to approve. 

But this is as I feared, you must first make plans and expand the home, and simultaneously request that part of the addition be used as the JADU only after approval of the expansion.

Has the health department approved of the plan and equipment? 

Check your state’s department of real estate and licensing website, it should have a list of approved providers of real estate coursework.

I would recommend getting pre-approved through underwriting if you want a step ahead.

We also allow people to use a pre approval letter from our company to submit with their offer.

If the property is still in the divorce process, you will probably need to contact the divorce attorney to get the sale approved.