I'm looking for ideas and options to transition from a self employed carpenter to investing in rehabs or at least working for other forced appreciation style investors.

Also there is very little you can to do force appreciation.

Unfortunately, CoStar will force all of the other agents in your office to sign up in order to upgrade to the national package, so this may not be a viable option for you.  

If for any reason you are forced to sell and can not recoup the investment it is lost money that the rental income will not cover.

Keep it small initially this way when you make mistakes the first time around, it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.

Or will I be forced into a commercial loan?

It seems like doing the work to get a note re-performing would violate the "arms distance" rules the IRS imposes.  

We have a large labor force (H2B)  that's rents C class appts, we believe we will be able to lead them to fill these vacancies. 

Having said that, I thought one of the criteria was that sales or purchases had to be at an arms length or they couldn't be done tax free.

I have been looking for apartments below 150 and from all of them found the below deal the best option but wanted feedback from the BP community.Here are the deal details :Purchase Price: $129,900 Bedrooms: 2Baths: 1 full, 1 halfBuilt in 1974HOA Fee: $228/moCooling: CentralHeating: Forced airLast sold: Mar 2016 for $105,000Taxes (2015): $1341/yrMaintenance incl: Water, Insurance, Trash and sewerFEATURESBasketball Court, Doorman, Elevator, Flooring: Tile, Garden, Patio, Pool, Porch, Tennis CourtDescription:The perfect investment property!