I'm referring to the standard practice that most people follow most of their adult lives of trading time for money, exclusively.

@Deanna McCormickI totally agree there is a difference. the reason my idea works is because all my properties are in a single area and most of the setup is the same so problems can be fixed by some kind of standard procedure.

This is pretty standard in my experience, though I'm not in the Bay Area.

https://www.parealtor.org/for-members/standard-for...

Then, once all the work was done your equity in the property was more than 20% could you then re-finance with a standard fixed rate loan, Pay off the FHA loan info, and then get another FHA loan with a 203K loan?

I offered to accept my documents & loan fee as compensation for the illegal processing.Walked into the office two days latter and collected both.It is TRUE that this is 24 yrs later and the standards have changed, so verify your rights before you pull the trigger on the above suggestion.

I receive the assignment agreement in my inbox several hours later in the day, and everything seemed standard but a $1,000 EMD required the very next day and a 7 day closing stuck out like a sore thumb.

As a standard policy, we either have a tenant move out in the AM and the new one move in, in the PM, or we have security stay during the 'vacant' days, or we board up.  

A standard oil tank removal will be about 2-3k with permits, testing, etc. no too bad.

What's the standard around it....all single family....then the answer is likely they would not approve a variance in my opinion.If lots of 2 and 3s then they might.If you don't have the right zoning approval at some point you could get stuck...and not in a good way.One thing I have seen too is if you go and ask...hey I'm thinking of this...and they tell you no it won't happen/can't happen and you do it anyway....they often win that fight....I would be generic in your discussions if you can.