By the time the 90's rolled around, things did improve but there were still so many builders that did shoddy work.

Since her back door had pool access, the condo association put in a rod iron fence behind all the units facing the pool.  

Would a lease option saying I just cover the property taxes and property improvements for him work?

@David Santore - I shoot for replacement value (just the improvements, not the land).

What I could see making MF worthwhile is value add, where you increase total rents by a significant percent (due to improvements you make), thereby greatly increasing the value of the property.

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They do offer access to conventional financial products, but is it a bit cumbersome.With a checkbook IRA LLC or Solo 401(k), you can easily establish a brokerage trading account within your plan, and therefore easily reallocate between conventional and non-traditional assets pretty much at will.

I eventually want to improve/add value and develop real estate as I gain more experience and connections in the industry.

@Roberto Gutierrez  yup half street improvements leading to nowhere .. been there hate that.Portland is in the 40 to 50k range and so are a few of the cities.. out lying cities can be as low as 15k.

Wondering how that would work since I've owned it for 4 years now.Unfortunately there is no benefit to you unless you have a buyer that is wanting to "substantially improve" the condo, i.e. double the improvement basis.