@Nikki YankowskiI looked at new construction and was even on the waiting list of several during Stage 1 construction.

That said, I am also currently building a property that I’ll need to refinance in the next few months (it’s in a construction loan with a balloon payment), and I can’t risk messing up the qualification on the refinance. 

She is 18 and has chosen to start a construction/real estate business instead of going to college, and my husband and I want to give her money that we would have otherwise paid for her college, so that she can pay cash for her first property, and not have to worry about getting financing, etc. 

They are places like Chula Vista/Otay (Which have tons of new construction) and the SDSU college area among others.

My experience is they will not look into what you have done with your property in the inside or outside, unless you have a new mortgage loan/refi or a permit for construction or do something that triggers substantive difference of the value of the property (land and/or improvements).It may take less than one year after you buy for the tax assessor to value your property at recent sales comps, or it can be dormant for several years. 

Do interest only during construction and part of the rent up phase, otherwise you have to personally cover P/I with no or little rental income for a phase. 

Also keep in mind your talking about B + to A inventory IE meaning very nice owner occ neighborhoods and or new construction. there are plenty of houses but a huge amount of them are in areas that ONLY attract investors they do not attract owner occupants..there by making this shortage even worse. 

If I were your age, I would look at a construction trade school.

Of course, if your mortgage payment is PITI (including taxes and insurance) you can nix those from the above list....and likewise, if you're managing it yourself you can lose the prop management fee.When I don't know much about the property and am just crunching numbers I'll use 8-10% for vacancy rate, 8% for property management, and 5% for each of capex and maintenance (total of 10% for both).If I know the property is new construction I'll use a smaller number for capex and maintenance - if the property is old, I may figure a bit more.

Yesterday I visited this area and there is a lot of new construction going on.