My suggestion would be to not play games with tax authorities as you may find yourself in prison.

But once its rehabbed and the rents are at or above market rate, then a Traditional bank comes into play, but so does your DTI and various other factors.

Oh and if your painter is mad you didn’t give him the contract, find a woodworker to make a very very special and tiny violin for you to play for him!

In my experience portfolio loans are usually ARM's, or a hybrid such as a 5/1, and yes I think they are generally for multiple properties, 5 minimum typically but again there's a lot of variation within the category and lenders can create their own underwriting guidelines so there's no standard "portfolio loan" option.

As for it coming from the court house, I've only seen that coming into play if there are liens on the property coming from the city / code enforcement department.

Only a small percentage of people play with those snakes and actually come out ahead. 

Now, there are a whole host of rules regarding unrelated business income and unrelated debt-financed income that come into play, which is why it is worth paying a CPA with malpractice insurance to handle it. 

I believe it is an equal playing field for us all.

Many sellers can feel the asymmetrical knowledge at play, and appreciate it when you are open with them.

I will play with those numbers so I get a better feel for how they correlate.