Thanks Lisa, for the info & the call! I think you hit the nail on the head with how I was going about this. No bank or lending institute seems to want to consider this residential property, no matter how it looks. Like you said, I need to be asking the question:
What is the max loan to value percentage you can loan on industrial/commercial property that I will be using as a residence.
Just stay away from residential loans. No zoning change, no jumping thru hoops, etc. We are thinking the commercial appraisal will come in higher, and may allow the seller to hold a second mortgage on paper, and forgive it at time of first payment. That way it looks like we are only borrowing the 60-80% of the value. This seems like the best chance so far. The one lender ran some rough numbers & came up with one place that would loan us the 125k (or so) to get it if we had 10% of the inflated number (190k in this case), which is 19k + closing costs. That is really pushing it & basically out of reach for us right now. It kills me to be this close & not be able to make it happen.
If we try the re-zoning plan, either half or all of it, it takes approx. 3 months. In the mean time, someone could offer cash or have a non-contingent offer & take it all from us. Even though I would feel like letting the lead fly, there really isn't much I can do about it. Those with the money get the best treatment, in just about every aspect of life. Makes it really hard for the little guy trying to get ahead.
Got a lot of calls to make tomorrow, got to be an answer somewhere.
Thanks ALL!