basically you need to consider all the FUTURE income generated , appreciation,  etc in the money as opposed to paying off debt. 

In your case it would be a cash out refi - as opposed to a purchase mortgage.

There are exceptions when the IRA uses mortgage financing or for certain types of real estate transactions that are businesses as opposed to passive earnings (i.e. flipping houses).IRS rules that accompany the tax-sheltered status of the IRA prohibit you and close family from personally benefiting from the IRA - other than by growing your retirement savings. 

Wouldn't this just be a "finance" as opposed to refinance given the property was never financed in the first place?

If you want to invest in Detroit, we like to buy single family homes in Detroit opposed to Multifamily when talking about the city of Detroit.

My husband is in the Army and that has been a lucrative strategy for us (as opposed to the buy-and-hold we generally see in the military).  

I have student loans around 40k but I am opposed to car payments and have zero credit cards. 

If we purchase the previous owner's LLC and have title remain in that entity's name as opposed to purchasing it and placing in our LLC , would that avoid a tax hike from the newly re-finished property? 

I would rather have positive cashflow though (that's a visible gain as opposed to betting on probably, but not 100% return on appreciation).   

There are a few that require you to use their own rental services as opposed to doing your own AirBnB/VRBO rentals; avoid those.