It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

Though I did do a lot of "pre-elimination", just by driving past a house for sale and seeing it's neighborhood/condition.   

You may want to consider that as an alternative retirement investment vehicle, it has number of advantages over an IRA LLC:Custodian is not required (eliminate all custodian fees)Get checkbook control without the need for an LLC (trust is used as a vehicle to hold 401k plan assets), you have full control over the plan assets as trusteeAvoid expensive CA Franchise tax of $800/yrExempt from UBIT on leveraged real estate Ability to take a personal loan from your 401k, any time, for any reasonContribution limits are 10X higher than an IRA (up to $61,000 for 2018)Tax-free investing using Roth sub-accountAbility to correct a prohibited transaction and moreRegarding your questions about getting a non-recourse loan: this is an asset-based loan so the age of an entity is irrelevant.

Even when they close it, it won't completely eliminate the smell throughout the year?  

Look for a new market, run the current numbers for currently used markets, and rerun the numbers for previously eliminated markets...to see if they are still out of the picture.Situations change, markets change, so you must follow the changes and adjust.

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

I know you'd be househacking which would minimize or eliminate how much you'd spend on a mortgage but it is still important to know how much of a mortgage payment you can afford incase for whatever reason the other unit is vacant for more than a few weeks.

The second reason is to eliminate the MIP of $/225 month.

This is why I love real estate, no other investment vehicle that I know of that allows you to eliminate unavoidable expenses while still making money. 

A cement or heavy wooden cover has always worked for me without the need to actually fill it in....but if you want to completely eliminate any risk filling it in is the only way to do that.