The bad news is that it will be harder for you to execute your plan to raise rents and refinance, taking out the seller and recovering part or all of your down payment because the lower LTV that lenders will constrain you to will pigeonhole you.Another challenge to be aware of is that there are likely HOA dues—typically if only one unit is owned by a third party the HOA is formed and collects dues even from the developer-owned units.

However, the building has challenges that I need to talk through with someone familiar with the market and multifamily renovations.

Engage a professional to consider your and your partners facts and circumstances before you start setting up companies.

The thing about this profile is it let's us engage with SO many people.

Engage an attorney to review the loan documents. 

Honestly xcel has everything you need if you use it properly.The hardest part will be setting up all the references and equations for your specifications.If that might seem a little too much of a challenge for you I would put an ad into your local college newspaper offering $1000 for an xcel spreadsheet that you can build upon and let a college intern/professor/student build you one for weekend beer money.

To be clear, I will go to Baltimore and will engage in these activities, but I want to make the best use of my time doing so.

Knowing you have multiple streams of income makes work challenges just a little easier to manage.So glad you've already plugged into the podcasts - just a wealth of information there that helped me so much when I started out - and honestly, it still does today. 

Although South Carolina law provides that claims by the previous owner (the nonpaying taxpayer) are extinguished by statute two years after the tax deed is issued, State Courts welcome challenges to Tax Deeds by others during the first ten years.

That is one of the paramount reasons we have licensing laws.Any agent engaging in such activities should be reported to the proper authorities.