I had three years interning in the field and I was getting BLOWN up by offers from various Mortgage companies, so I finally decided to cut my losses at $40k of debt, enter the work force and stop racking up debt that I'm really not deriving direct, tangible value from. 

Pre-forclosure is a Zillow term and only means that someone is falling behind on mortgage payments - it's a long way from there to actual forclosure, then sheriff sale and finally (a year later or so ....)

My wife and I made the choice to start investing in real estate and this first duplex was a simple easy way to drop our living expenses to start saving for bigger better deals.

It's a multiple choice test.

My point is that if skyscrapers is your niche of choice, don't expect to close many deals.

@Don Gouge - HOA was not listed on most portals but I finally found it. $213 a month.. bummer!

As a practical matter, you might be able to get around it by including a jurisdiction/choice-of-forum clause in your loan documents.

With a design business and a background in construction I feel it could be a great path.Can you share a little about your costs to build and final margins?

My dad brings a lot of experience to the table when it comes to renovating a house so I’ll just have to make a choice

That being said, be careful because if things went south, it could result in a major penalty Might have been better to post a hypothetical question and a faux story to get the answerFHA loans are owner occupied, 5% down also likely owner occupied - read the contract Once you have 20%-25% equity in, you can refinance and go conventional I can't recommend either way for you, but I can say others have done itOnce your loan is conventional, I'd say you've got very little to worry about - the choice is yours