She took videos, contacted the landlord, let him know how unsafe and uncomfortable she felt with this going on. 

So even if the units are generating $500/month:$1500 - $1254 - $133 - $70 = $43/monthSo you will be pulling in a positive $43/month while living there the routine expenses are paid.  

I honestly think that she would be overwhelmed trying to break that routine.

answer from the cheap seats and someone who has written off their vehicle for work for the last 47 years  at least for me if you use milage that's all you need to do it encompasses all those items you list.but I routinely drove 20 to 30k miles a year schlepping clients around and running up into the boonies to show rural acreages. so the itemized approach is probably what you want to do and keep a log book that you can pop out if your audited..  

Residential HELOC's tend to calculate interest per month X average daily balance (average of all days per month) so this reduces the impact for financiall disciplined folks who routinely spend less than income taken in each month.7) Wouldnt paying extra with a regular conventional 30 year fixed (Constant payment mortgage - CPM) be the same or better, apples to apples?

As to the accounting of paying all rent into a jointly owned account (keep in mind, bank accounts can also be tenants in common or joint tenants, or wholly owned by one with signatory authority to each, make sure you think through how you're going to want to do this) and then seeking capital gain exclusion down the road upon sale, I believe that could work, but I am not a CPA and do not routinely handle tax matters, so I would defer to a CPA on this issue.

Given that you called Lance by the name of Corey, I'd say that you hit the nail on the head when you said "a bit slow on the uptake" ...From what I read, Lance is re-creating what he routinely encounters, and this is not some verbatim exact real-life example.

Routine safety/maintenance inspections will be scheduled.

For example, maybe your wife has a guaranteed pension and you don't need your 401k money for retirement. ...The courts are routinely throwing out those pension guarantees now, especially if it is a state or municipality.Fundamentally, you should be investing in real estate to IMPROVE your financial picture, not put it at higher risk just for the sake of doing a deal.

I sent her a text basically telling her I am uncomfortable with the disrespectful tone in much of her communication, and I am going  to wait the last six months of our current lease to see if the communication can become more respectful before I sign anything.