Namely, that if a tenant (in this case accompanied by a whole family) ends up stop paying rent and I would be on the hook for both covering the mortgage and dealing with open ended legal costs and time.

Do not rely on it for legal advice.

Purchase contract should show the entire legal as platted.

Hard money lenders are much more like banks and come with many restrictions, requirements, due diligence, fees, etc.

This is both a legal and tax question. 

@Kash Tacke legally, you would need architect drawings to get approval from Detroit Zoning Board.

A law degree does not mean you know anything re wraps.If worse comes to worse, you can stop the foreclosure with legal action - it costs some but you will not lose your equity.I would not throw the baby out with the bath water re doing wraps and I do hope all works out for you.Reach out if you need a referral to a good AZ attorney to helpBe careful out there guysAlan Not to be too blunt, but you are handing bullets to a six year old with a gun.

Because I'm not an accountant or versed in tax code and law wouldn't I want a CPA to ensure everything is legally tight and as advantageous as it can be? 

Owner ended up settling with the tenant, but then we had to threaten to sue our own client to get them to pay our legal fees.- Owner must sign a Hold Harmless to indemnify us against any potential tenant lawsuits relating to the work their contractor is doing.--- Another lawsuit resulted from owner's contractor taking down basement handrail to get supplies down the steps, then they didn't put it back and tenant fell down the stairs.- We also negotiate a reasonable completion date, depending on the Scope Of Work (SOW). --- Who gets all the phone calls and wastes time calming a tenant down because the owner's contractor doesn't show up as scheduled after they took time off from work or a 3 day job takes 3 weeks?

It is an expense, but they keep it all legal and compliant.