There will be many situations where you can help a homeowner save their home -  however, in other situations they just want to sell quickly which provides a wholesale, fix/flip, buy/hold opportunity for you. 

Us: We want to buy the property, fix up the (3) apartments not occupied by her parents to generate rental income.QuestionsMy thoughts are to work out a deal where we purchase the property from her parents without taking a loan from bank.

This leaves room for profit and covers unexpected expenses after fixing the property.

If something breaks, the management company fixes it. 

Happy to connect and knowledge share if you are interested.Detroit is a great "fix & flip" market if you are on the "right" street and don't "over do" the flip.

When you finance through national lenders, in your experience, is a balloon a common requirement for commercial loans of this nature or is it possible to get a fixed rate for 30 years?  

Whether it’s buy-and-hold, fix-and-flip, or short-term rentals, there seems to be a lot of potential here.For those already investing in the area, what have you seen?

Some people use their IRA to fund fix and flip's and keep the profit in them tax free. 

It goes to your preference, of course, but whichever can produce the greatest ROI should be considered.There are many markets in Michigan, for example, where it is cheaper to buy an existing house and fix it up than it is to build new.That may not be the case where you are at or through the construction suppliers and contractors you may have access to.To Your Success!

I put $6000 into repairs, mostly paint, new light fixtures, new appliances, painting cabinets and fix a small leak coming from the roof.