How do I protect myself in this situation, while also helping a relative? 

If you have specific questions about property management, I'll be happy to help!

Your specific variable expense assumptions are wrong, BUT you stumbled into them being correct overall.Also, you are approaching this correctly - entering in the numbers to generate a purchase price that meets your metrics:)

There are a high number of CPA firms that do not want to get involved outside of the FYI to their clients, and some state boards are saying that a CPA advising related to this registration is an "unlicensed practice of law" given it is not under Title 26 - income taxes - the only place where CPAs and EAs are specifically authorized to interpret law. 

What I don't control is the market price.The specific business situation where this may be useful is on absorption of a new apartment complex units, but then they have a metric for that, absorption.

Specifically, I’d love to hear about best practices for managing shared spaces, screening tenants, and setting up house rules.Additionally, I plan to split the utilities among the tenants—any advice on how to handle this efficiently would be greatly appreciated!

You may have to search a bit for the right contractor or engineer - sometimes I see one solution dominating in an area - "that is how we always do it"  Thanks for the input - yes, it sounds like the specific area this house is in is particularly bad for foundation issues.  

If you are looking OOS, we can talk more specifically about Greater Cincinnati as well to see if it is a good fit.

Instead:401(k) loans: They’re low-interest, and you’re paying yourself back.Roth rollovers If you can afford the taxes now, this gives future flexibility.Creative financing: I’ve seen clients leverage partnerships or seller financing to limit retirement fund withdrawals.One thing to consider: real estate markets today are vastly different from a decade ago.. so opportunities may require extra creativity.Have you looked into specific deals yet?

I was specifically interested in his 2nd plan which was "Building wealth through single-family homes" where he basically says you save enough to buy your first property along with enough for other fees and then you just keep saving the money you make from that property along with some money you save from your job and once you have enough money you buy your next property and then you basically just keep repeating that until you have your desired amount of properties.