I have a few commercial bank contacts, but concerned they may just cut me out of the deal.

We weren't willing to take that risk.My wife operated our first home and after a few months we found a really solid knowledgeable manager who took over operations while still working closely with my wife. 

(Respectfully- Please don't tell me to save up and quit my job it's just not realistic for me and won't be anytime soon)If you read the threads on BP concerning wholesaling, you should be able to draw a few conclusions1. 99% of people trying wholesaling fail2.

In case you missed it, Detroit' Mayor Duggan announced that the value of houses in the city increased 23% in 2024.In the last 7 years, Detroit housing is up over 300%!

While it pains me to say it, I think that if you are patient, and watch that market over the next 12-18 months, you will find yourself in one of the greatest buying opportunities in America. 

As a rookie the fear is that I make a horrible purchase which ends up costing me my primary home.About me, I have been fixing aircraft for over 20 years and this is primary income.

Quote from @Benjamin Larabee: Hi all,My wife and I have worked over the last 7 years to build a rental portfolio and are getting to the point where the bookkeeping/data entry tasks are becoming too time consuming.

If they do, you may have a chance under the scenario you're proposing - if they share your concern for it's condition (although that seems unlikely since they've been living with it the way it is for some time, it seems).If you own it, it's pretty lowbrow to expect a neighbor to invest in your property. 

I have a unique deal that the property owner is just wanting the builder to build him a home for "free" and he will sign over the land.

You should have all the contracts readily at your disposal. having been an agent for 2 years already, it's really concerning that you wouldn't readily know the contracts for such as of yet, so I have to assume you have done exceptionally little the last 2 years.