By the last year of our marriage, we had sold our vacation home at a $100,000 loss, lost our primary residence in a short sale, and moved to successively smaller rental homes.

Whatever you do, try try try to keep in mind that this is not your personal residence and not a TV design show.

Low income residents just don't take care of things.

I have tried with two smaller lenders(National Bank of Arizona and OneAZ Credit Union) and they have both dragged it out for several months before deciding they wouldn't do the loan for what I perceived to be fairly silly reasons(Management didn't like that the tenant had only been in for 1 year, Management didn't like that the structure used to be a residence, management didn't like that 3 years ago I took a loss in a completely unrelated business etc.)I am hoping that someone out there has had some success purchasing or refinancing commercial property like this in AZ and can put me in touch with someone who actually completes deals like this.

Also buying one and living in it makes it your primary residence allowing you to potentially get a lower interest rate and a lower down payment. 

So if this went to court and you lost (which you would based on the info provided) you will have to pay a hefty penalty, plus the resident's attorney costs and court costs.  

If you reside outside of this map (or on the Nevada side), then your permit requirement will fall under the county rules most likely. 

On your primary residence you should be able to get a HELOC for up to 95% of the current value of your home, subject to DTI restrictions of course (typically 50%). 

.% down of the purchase price and the rehab costsCan be used for primary residence with 1-4 units (could also be looked at as a disadvantage)  When using 2-4 unit property, projected income from other units can be used to qualify 6 months' worth of mortgage payments can be rolled into the renovation budget if the house is deemed uninhabitable by the HUD consultantCredit scores can go down to 600s (lender dependent) DTI can go to as high as automated underwriting system allows (typically 56.9%)Allows you to buy a property in any conditionCan use it to fix minor repairs all the way up to basically a full tear-downFHA 203k Disadvantages: Interest rates tend to be about .25-.5 higher than regular FHA loan Additional costs include HUD consultant fee, inspections, title updates, and supplemental origination fee (Cost of doing business, but this is built this into your numbers, so it's no big deal)Must use a licensed General Contractor for a full 203k or up to 3 specialized contractors on the limited 203k Must hold onto the property for 1 year and live in it. 

There are several tax experts who are active here on the forum who might be able to assist you.But first you need to decide which type of retirement account is the right fit for you: you can have a custodial self-directed IRA, or you can enhance it with the checkbook control by setting up Checkbook IRA (aka IRA owned LLC).