Have you confirmed with the local government/building department that you will be allowed to complete such a large addition.  

I couple that with credit score, collection records from past landlords, judgments, evictions etc.In order to verify timely payments to independent landlord types, i ask the tenant to show the last 6 months cleared checks to prove when rent was paid and the checks cleared.....or other forms of payment confirmation.  

This article is talking about Software developer and engineer salaries, not real estate, but I think it can easily be applied.http://tgeonetta.com/cost-of-living-vs-salary-best...There is a lot of talk on BP about where to get the best return, what states are better for investing, etc.

The lender will still add the last previous years together and dived by two and take the middle income.My advice to you si that you should find a top lender in your area, one that is been in business at least 12 years, meaning that he was in the business when the "creative" way of lending was done and can run numbers on his calculator, not input numbers in a computer software program and see what the automatic underwriting tells him. 

Carefully review the zoning requirements to confirm that you can build what you want.

You either confirm things before you put in an offer or make your offer contingent upon verifying specific info.

Jerry, "the pay really is more equal for sexes than most other professions"That is an interesting statement as I also read that there is a discrepancy in the pay scale in most professions between men and women whether you are  software engineer, physician, lawyer, accountant etc, but there is an even playing field between men and woman in how much one makes in real estate sales. 

Call 2 or 3 to confirm you have the right answer.

I think my reasoning has been confirmed that solid is the way to go.

Hi Ali, I'm a software engineer, like many others in Silicon Valley.