Taxable value right now is about $2,300,000-Loan:  Full recourse 75% LTV (including 75% of $450,000 rehab budget), 5 yr term, 25 year amortization, 4.5% interest with interest only year 1-Age: 1968-Individual HVAC and Hot water heaters-9 down units have been "down" since 2007!!

Condos, in general, are dependent on the financial stability of all of the owners.  

In any case I think the cousin thing is something you can look into if you have any unrelated individual legislation in your area.

@Tony Silvas I think part of the problem is that you are looking at this purely from a financial point of view and not the emotional part.

I’ve worked in varying capacities as a financial analyst, software engineering & product design instructor, & senior design engineer with growing startups to some of the biggest companies out there.

I am looking forward to getting to know BP members and picking the brain of like-minded individuals.  

What should I have in order (financially) before starting REI?

There was an episode on American Greed about Remington financial.. they were in business over 20 years their target was small commercial to bigger multi or commercial.. they charged 5 to 10k DD fee's estimated they brought in over 200 million in the 22 years they operated.. by the time the FBI was done with them.. they could not establish that they had made more than 11 loans in all those years.... long prison sentences. your instincts are fine and intact.

You won't take the credit hit unless you actually apply for a loan.You may want to talk to the commercial lending desk and not residential (think one loan for 8 units, vs. 8 individual loans which would probably be too small for them to want to do).

Listsource has a sister product called Real Quest, same company, that is better for looking up individual properties.