I went to Morehouse and had a few friends that lived in those condos (again if it's the ones I'm thinking of) and they ruined a few.

This tenant happen to be the one that had not paid rent in several months and was ruining the unit.

Trying to cut your teeth on a "cheap" sec 8 property in a warzone is more likely to ruin the experience and drain you than it is to get you rich.

My brother and I lost our Mom to cancer in October of 2014.

A crooked or incompetent PM can ruin the yearly cashflow and ruin the experience. 

I would suggest calling an appraiser and for between $25 and $100 you can get a value check or a desktop appraisal and find out what it is REALLY worth.When your ready to put yourself between a rock and a hard place you need the facts - might be the best $100 you spend.As for a refi - you do not have many options - getting financing yourself doesn't seem to be an option - so - get a partner - mom/dad/ brother/sister friends neighboors - just know you may forever ruin that relationship so be prepared to lose that relationship over the deal.

We bought a duplex for $44K at the bottom of the market and it was quite a disaster with sloping floors and enough nicotine on the walls to give you cancer!  

Never a late payment in my life, my husband and I are supposed to close on an FHA loan in 2 weeks for a place near his new job so we can stop renting and save hundreds every month, too, but a weird 26-yr-old cosign issue (which I didn't do but having trouble proving it) just popped up on my credit report (seriously, they say account opened in Oct 1984, cosigned in 1986, but didn't start putting it on my report until about 4 months ago, so I just discovered it), so it's ruining our closing because I disputed it.

It will ruin a pair of shoes and pants . 

A great property on paper can easily be ruined and often is by a poor management company, which is very often tied to the company you purchase from.