Apparently after the lady passed away, the family allowed her 6 cats and two dogs to have free reign over the house for what must have been months.

The program would allow such Home Buyers to find their own home that they want to live in. 

Hey Ani,I was finally able to arrange a workaround with my lender that allowed us to keep my partners name off the mortgage and thus off the title.

Would you allow this?

Ryan - I would say  yes to the main question ...its  best to  start with using  hypothetical scenario  that is likely higher than you plan to use  ...ask the lender to  use these figures...provide them with all the  data they  request  ...ask them to fully underwrite and  approve the  file  ( versus just  providing a  " pre qualification "  opinion  based off a loan officer  reviewing the data ) ...getting a firm / formal  loan approval commitment  is free and  this should allow you to know  exacatly where you stand

I do understand at a basic level that this kind of zoning allows for a two story in structure in the back. 

From what I see and read, I don't think there is a loan that would allow me to do this, so I am thinking I have to get creative, Unless I am unaware of an option out there... but any advice is appreciated :)I am aiming to buy a house in the Atlanta area that I can improve/fix up to increase the value, but instead of selling it quickly as a flip, I would like to live in it!

I've worked the numbers allowing for property management. 

HI there Indy, welcome to one of the best places to learn and grow within the real estate world.There is great value in the pod-casts within bigger-pockets and as well as meetups in different communities, and face to face with real investors that get it done, learn from the others and create some value to some in anyway possible.lots of us investors on here are looking for everything from raising capital and partnerships which is leverage in allowing others to invest in your dream and vise-versa.( using less of your money to get more deals, you'll expand quicker)If you're looking for more guidance and help feel free to contact me and we can show you the ease of growth and long term on being in the investments to get you towards your goals.

It allows me to better question his assumptions and get more narrowly into determining what the end result will be.