The work included replumbing the entire home, new furnace and A/C, new water heater, Lower level gut and refinish, new patio, new garage door and garage repairs, new roof, kitchen gut, bathroom gut, hardwood refinish, new flooring, new doors, new trim, a lot of drywall work and paint.

To protect yourself from potential downturns, you should look at markets where housing returned to pre 2008 levels.

The DOS has a very clearly defined exposure level (loan balance + new closing costs).

I think looking at our properties collectively, at the portfolio level (even if you only have a few doors), is going to be important going forward. 

As such, this is not an area we have delved into at the level of detail required to answer the question at hand.  

I have definitely seen more demand for side-by-side duplexes over upper/lower duplexes.  

They can use a little more common sense in these types of situations (your education level, your track record, your income, etc) and lend on that basis.

With that being said I am willing to work with those who are honest and will help us all be successful to whatever level we each desire.Looking into the future I will be attending REI meetings, as well as continuing to study to move this journey forward.

On the other hand, drain pipes only carry water when the water is turned on at the faucet level, so since the water wasn't being used the evidence you saw of a leak was dry. 

However, if the numbers are on the tighter side then forcing the repair might be a good option to use and still close the deal.I would assume that if you were able to get responses from a number of others on the site they would probably say things like I am going to list here.1) Problems can seem small and simple at first but grow larger in a hurry - it happens.2) Depending on the type of shower/tub installed in the above unit it may be more than a simple fix and get into much more money than you think - you won't know until you open the ceiling for sure.3) After the plumbing repair you could be looking at mold potentially in the joist spacing area between units.4) Depending on the length of time the issue has existed and been patched to get by you may also have damage to the wood - joists between units and or sub floor issues under the upper unit tub/shower.5) If there is insulation between the two units, you may have soaked and degraded insulation that needs to be replaced as well - good news is that rock and insul are cheap to replace.6) OR......... you may have someone open it up to fix it and its just a simple plumbing issue and is a quick and easy fix - totally possible too.Just as an illustration, I went to replace a bath faucet for an accountant friend of mine yesterday.