Haven't bought a half-house before, so haven't run into it.

@Mark Owens runs it.

The problem is that I'm running into issues with the refi process due to my debt to income ratio.I have a W2 job that pays well, but I also own a business which had some pretty steep losses in 2015 which flowed through to my personal tax return, and smaller losses in 2016.  

I can't believe that people were getting loans that were worth more than 100% of the value of their homes in the run-up to 2008. 

He is also an investor and runs an Investment club.

The carpenter has run his own company and managed many projects.  

And as far as streetside lines go,  this runs through a major commercially trafficked road, not a neighborhood and one of my friends owns a duplex just up the street and confirmed the gas line presence in his.

I currently live in the Sacramento CA area, but when running the numbers on cash flow and return on investment I find that in some area like Memphis the numbers work much much better for what I'm looking for.

There is a house on the property, but is pretty run down and would cost a lot to renovate.

Those are the rules I've set, and if they break them then they run the risk of incurring late fees.