I do not believe they do personal background checks though.The difference is in the designations. 

To answer your question directly - yes, never buy a property that neither you nor someone you trust has seen in person.  

Any info, insight, or personal experiences in regard to hard money lenders and/or rehabbing before refinance would be greatly appreciated. 

It will be hard to make it work (you might need to room share, rent by the room and otherwise get creative) but it’s also more finacially rewarding than other cities.,    The other thing is you should invest in your own backyard.

Looking forward to connect with like-minded investors and RE professionals online or in person.

Have a read A good friend shared this story recently; a nice story about effort vs. skill – a good reminder that in many areas of work/life time and outcome aren’t always aligned; especially in thedesign & technology space…A giant ship’s engine failed.

I personally love Columbus in terms of doing value add.

That sucks.In general, I would think converting shares to a promissory note would not be a taxable event, but if the note never gets paid back, the note default would certainly be a taxable loss.On the other hand, you have probably taken depreciation.  

Initially, I was thinking I could rent this out to a person/couple or to two friends who might want to be roommates.

We are the seller with many different lender resources that we share with our buyers.