High clay content and there was no sand at all, just dust).  

@Julie Pedraza a real estate license is an effective tool to have in your bag, congrats! 

Since this was going to be a live in flip, we were hoping to get most of the dust producing parts of the rehab done before moving in, which we planned on for June.

I welcome my tenants with a Walmart bag full of goodies on the counter to greet them usually consisting of ; a pack of Newport’s ,a bottle of mad dog ,some mouse traps ,flea and roach spray also a book entitled “how to pay your rent on time “

Both metros have some of both to some degree.Detroit is a huge mixed bag.

Yes the original plan was to switch sides (to the bad side) and renovate while living in it again but now with a baby on the way we really don't want to have to live through the dust and destruction again.

What if a tenant's child gets exposed to lead paint dust before you create the LLC?  

Once the dust settles then you can always do a refi on the new 1031 property and recoup what you put into the old property to pay it off.  

Many big boys bit the dust because of the lack of liquidity in the market and they could not refinance.. thinking Opus...

There was some leaking in the basement when it rained (literally every property I have purchased has had this issue because most landlords had slumlord PMs working for them) and I fixed that issue on my own using mortar (it costs under $2.50 a bag at Lowes).