Am I obligated to let my home insurance know? 

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.

As a nineteen year old, does one year seem like a lifetime of obligation?

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. 

I'm interesting in looking at markets in other cities and would like to get involved in multi-family properties and as I continue to learn begin innovating.The ultimate goal for me, like with many, if not most, others, is to attain financial independence as well as security.I'm super excited to get involved and learn as much as I can within this wonderful community!