Having a lender on board before you start shopping will definitely help your stress levels. 

You're trying to argue that we should make it more comfortable to be an addict or a crazy person who don't take their meds because everyone deserves a certain level of comfort.

So ensure you able to pay your mortgage at the higher level while putting aside reserves for capex, vacancy and repairs.Here is the other kicker as well.

Also moving around walls and opening up kitchen is okay for a higher price level flip but for a rental it won't pay off, and you will likely add on some delay and increase cost as you will likely need a permit to open up walls. 

I think that it really depends on your comfort level, strategy, and market.

I also just see this as a trickle down to state and local levels.  

State level moratoriums would be handled at state level courts. 

From a federal level yes. 

This happens on an individual level, institutional level, and everything in between. - LA is a cyclical market (as opposed to being a linear or hybrid market). 

That’s at the state and county levels.