Normally, in instances like this I make my assumptions using Occam's Razor.Is this a common problem across the industry or did I just happen to run into an anomaly?

I don't see anything that really makes sense as a buy and hold in L.A . 

I can't guarantee you squat as I'm not your lender, but this is what the guidelines say...On top of that, your occupancy intent needs to make intuitive sense. 

Make sure to talk over the septic situation with them.As long as they are on-board then I'd hire an architect and bid it to a few contractors and see if it made financial sense.

Absolutely, BPOs are common and usually the preferred method to get value quickly, but of course there is still cost associated.

An example I see is with the kitchen faucet - seems to make sense to spend an extra $50 to get a larger high end faucet?

The pilot light is still lit and I can turn the furnace back on if I want.This is my first home - logically it makes sense to shut something off when not in use, but houses have so many nuances and I want to avoid a situation like "well since you shut off the furnace that cooled the insulation which then caused flaking which then clogged your air filter and yada yada your foundation broke and collapsed and there goes your investment."

These leases should also be recorded in the public records.NNN leases are commonly used for commercial transactions.

I agree that just for a few flips that $10-15K for a device and program wouldn't make any sense. 

It made sense to me because I'm seeing a lot of that with Garfield.Edit: I just asked one of my friends who lives in Garfield (one guy in a single family home).