I lurked for quite a while, but it was time to take the next move and join a large network of people with experience to learn from, diverse backgrounds, and similar financial interests.I am a moderate DIY’er and purchased my first home for $12,000 as a short sale (it was once offered for $3,000).

They have looked, at least initially, at her financial sitaution. 

However, it does not always make financial sense to empty and gut the building to carry out a deep retrofit (and even when it does, that initial whooshing roar of capital flying out of your bank account can be unsettling).As of late, we have been purchasing rather, to very, unloved buildings with plans to (eventually) perform deep retrofits on many of them {where the increase in the property performance will pay-back the investment in a relatively short period (say 3 - 6 years) versus the planned hold duration (i.e. 20yrs).   

I am a real estate agent in Detroit, and myself and my partner will be the boots on the ground locally dealing with everything and also be contributing financially.

Personally, I'm not such a fan of books, blogs or podcasts that have quite deceptive titles suggesting that creating substantial wealth and financial freedom is attainable in a short amount of time.

I made some spreadsheet and ran a few numbers using financial calc... but the more I look at it the more questions arise.

Being able to make more money from the property and financial justification is typically not considered a hardship.Could you put the property under contract contingent on going to ZBA and getting the other units approved?

I would love to achieve financial independence (who wouldn't?)

We are using this experience to teach our 2 sons (age 13 and 10) about financial management and help give them some real world experiences. 

You cannot purchase the property personally and then assign or transfer to your IRA.Any self-directed IRA vehicle will likely take 2-3 weeks to establish, largely due to the timeframe involved in moving funds from your current institution to the new institution.