I rehabbing my first 4plex and it’s been the school of hard knocks....costly and very time consuming.

They said that  they “cannot legally” do this because of landlord-tenant laws and the liability of tenants complaining, then suing due to paying an unfair amount of utilities because another tenant over consumed.

This time consuming, and if the investor doesn't close, it's a total waste of time for the contractor.  

Unfortunately, there are newbies/ investors that are unscrupulous and have scammed consumers.

How it works out...Once all consumer debt is eliminated, and your net monthly cashflow from rentals is 2.5x your personal housing expense, you can continue buying/refinancing cashflow positive rental properties and DTI will work out to be in the Fannie Mae allowable range. 

.- Prepayment or early payoff penalties for consumers are a thing of the past for your vanilla conforming FNMA type loans.

Although that sounds easy I know it's going to be much more time consuming than that. 

@Evan Goff Ask your lender about the VAs Loans for Alteration and RepairPURPOSE: This circular replaces Chapter 7, Topic 4, Loans for Alteration and Repair, in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Lender's Handbook, 26-7.

It's tough because FTHB consumers aren't really qualified to know how to pick a lender (see: this and a thousand other OPs), and in the age of cynicism everyone assumes that you as the agent are getting an illegal and unethical kickback from your preferred lender so they don't want to trust that.

There are specific lending rules for seller financing to a consumer. not sure if this helps you?