However, If I remodeled the kitchen it could be closer to $125-$130k)I will try to update this post with some before and after photos but my hard drive recently crashed so I need to find these!

So your choice is to pay a slightly higher (investment property) rate and make sure you have enough LTV (usually 25%), or plan to live in the condo for another year after refi closes.Before the last crash, people played fast and loose with occpancy requirements.

If he bought in 2008, there's a good chance that he bought before the market crashed and was basing his purchase on much higher ARV.

Its a tricky situation because a significant amount of my stuff is still in the home and I feel like I shouldn't have to harass grown women that are doctors and pharmacists to pay rent on time and don't let people crash in my room!

Another thing to consider is the even during a recession/crash, no matter how bad the economy is nationally, the 30,000 active duty soldiers here and their 50,000 dependents will still get paid.  

We can get a cheaper deal by going to a neighboring zip code with poorer schools and higher crime (whose houses are on the upswing but have yet to bounce back from the crash), but I'm concerned about being able to find quality renters. 

Very few were laid off during the 2008 crash, and the same is true doing COVID.

I noticed it abut a year ago.I believe it is a combination of low returns on other investments, the crash is far enough in the past that the fear of continues falling is greatly lessened, and people are realizing that prices are low relative to affordability and rents,and now is a good time to buy.

My buddy and I grew up playing sports, saw each other just about every other day, had experienced deployments together, and even experienced great loss together when our third co-best-friend crashed his motorcycle in front of both of us and died in our arms. 

That last crash one of the worst in generations, did not hurt multi family much.