I thought that the course materials were very sloppily prepared, with little detail given on how to do transactions.

This is more of a financial advice question in order to prepare for the next deal.

Real estate investing has its ups and downs, but nothing could have prepared me for my rental property catching fire on the 4th of July.

Ok back to the script, no matter how much hard work you do on the front end that buyer has to be mentally prepared to weather any downturn.

Also, a heads up that a typical loan assumption will take 60 - 90 days on average, so be prepared for a long closing period.In our current market we have seen home values decline since 2020/2021/2022 so there may be some motivated sellers out there who need to sell but their loan is now greater than or equal to the value of their home. 

How much should we allocate to demo such a structure and prepare it for development so that it's attractive to developers?

You need to prepare for these operational cost increases that are out of your control.

I am preparing a strategic plan to leave the corporate world in 24 months or less. 

There is a difference between an operator who did not communicate any problems until the email about the capital went out and the operator who was constantly updating investors on the asset and the difficulties and challenges and preparing investors for the possibility of a capital call prior to actually going through with a capital call.I think the biggest lesson I have learned as an LP over the past few years is that I will absolutely require consistent, thorough and realistic communication from any operator I invest with. 

Soaking up as much information as possible from the Bigger Pockets podcast, preparing myself for taking action, and looking for conections and building relationships.