This is a subject thats widely debated in the REI community. 

Even allocating a portion of the monthly rents towards the down payment is an exposure.Each State can have unique issues with this approach, so you should ALWAYS get legal counsel on this subject and  how to draw up the agreement. 

The subjection property could have been built in 2015 or 1915.  

If so, then yes. there may be a tax advantage (subject to other income limitations and issues) for depreciation, utilities, mortgage interest, property tax, etc.If the house was not available to rent, then it was not "in service" yet, and there would be no tax issues.

You could look up the subject on here which is where I read about it. 

@Erin Stephens was your closing subject to inspection, were you able to get out of the deal?

If you do not, you will be subject to penalties after that date.

To your first question,Zillow RECENTLY sold are great comps that are near to the subject property, not the Zestimate.Check out icomps.com and findcompsnow.com As for title, I'm sure you can ask a Title company to get you an account where you can do title search as much as you can without bugging them. :)Cheers,Sean Caligagan

Would that be subject to the 20% requirement?

I have come across this FHA 203k loan and it sounds too good to be true (The bank buys the home and pays the construction costs).Any help on this subject would be extremely helpful.I know how saturated the North Jersey market is and without buying homes in all cash I have a disadvantage.