The master plan, which I'd love to get your opinion on, is to purchase the property, and immediately renovate the unfinished basement on both sides by adding a bedroom (to code w/ egress of course) and bathroom down there, as well as a finished family room, virtually doubling the square footage...it would actually be around 3100 finished square feet (1550 per side) total when complete.

Hey BP,An opportunity has come up for my company to take a commercial "flip" (renovation) of a church in East Chicago, IN.Normally we focus on Residential renovation/flips in the Chicagoland area (Illinois).

How does a renovation FHA 203K loan and Homepath renovation loan works?

The larger banks will have some of their own overlays which can be more restrictive.

Or do I go to a HML and tell them what I'd like to bid, renovations, etc. get a pre-approval letter, proof of funds, and take that to the agent along with my bid?

I have worked for a few property owners as their sole service call man for a few years and also helped renovate many many homes for them as we'll.

He got a listing for a vacant lot. and notices that on one side of the vacant lot there was a larger piece of land that was also vacant but not owned by the owner of the first lot.

If you Google about buying houses from smokers you should find them.When I look at a property where there has been a long term smoker, I allow for a significant rehab/renovation (20-25%) in any offer I put forward

Besides the cost of renovating the is a cost to the time to get a property stabilized.

As a sole employee S-corp I take advantage of a solo SD401(k) which allows much larger contributions which in turn we use to hold notes on arms length properties sep from the S-Corp holdings.On review since 2004 I have only taken a salary of 25%-30% of gross plus the 401(k) contribution.