Worst case, I can look up zoning changes and match the address with recent sales, however, if no permits were pulled I do not know if renovations occurred further increasing the value.

I hope someone with experience can help.The property is a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom house according to public records, but the current owner converted it into a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom about 10 years ago without permits and updates to the records.Questions: I'm planning to use a conventional loan.

In the world of development you have money at risk to complete these and other reports, legal, zoning, permitting, environmentals, etc before you go hard on your deposit with a seller.

Permit with house /floors /no floors are all easy and typical for major rehabs.

Permitting, zoning, finance, etc.3.)

You can check the documentation, permit info, warranty etc. or often there is an owner’s manual inside the home and also a plaque on or near the inverter or one of the switch boxes with the company name and contact info.

It would probably be worth a phone call to the Garland Planning and Zoning department to ascertain which areas are permitted to have short term rentals. 

Rather than recreating the wheel, I would just go to LP centric forums/groups like 506b or PIC group that dont allow GPs or capital raisers so people can post their bad experiences without intimidation.  

The initial phase will involve a registration requirement and an as-yet-undetermined annual permit fee per unit.

Then again, we did get a septic permit - so maybe that's worth something over what we payed for it.2.