If you are borrowing the money for the purposes of construction, the lender may require a certified general contractor to oversee or complete the project.Lastly, you might be able to add an extra income stream if you could locate a mechanic who could use the garage and live upstairs in the apartment.

And look for it to cashflow.And they say don't use your own money so that you can maximize your cash on cash return and have money left over for any extra renovations or expenses that you did not expect. 

If you make an extra profit some months do you market extra with that or simply treat your self?

Just got to add a little extra time putting them together.  

You can get good deals on tenant ready and sometimes better deals on properties that need a little extra TLC.

I'm sure you could use the extra space with a baby on the way.

My current thought is to go from $600 to $900 and set that expectation for annual increases at 3-5%. 3) I am planning to tell the tenant that given the medical concern they shared with me, I will give them an additional two months to see if they can come up with the extra $300 a month.

The key is to find the right properties that will cash flow enough to pay the payments and give you some extra cash each month.  

So there are generally 2 arguments. 1) Buy as many as you can in your personal name, get an Umbrella insurance policy to cover you for liability if something happened, then deal with LLC later once you have maxed personal mortgages. 2) Always buy in an LLC to protect yourself, and learn to deal with the extra complications of commercial financing. 

I also encourage pets to get that extra pet rent.