The porch is falling apart, needs to be replaced, other fixes like the sidings on the house. 

I don't want leverage on my home so I can take larger risks outside of my home with clear conscience that if it all folds, I have something to fall back upon.

What happens if one of your tenants has a slip and fall, on your property, or something else happens to them?

MF owners usually are sophisticated investors and if you start defaulting on the note they can and will foreclose on you (and they will probably know how to do that).As @Jeb Brilliant said, keep some "padding" in the bank to fall on if something goes wrong in the first few months of ownership.One last question, if you can't afford the DP how can you afford the 170K renovations for the second building?

It sounds like if you buy right with an FHA fix the home get it appraised and use a cash out refi then PMI will fall off as you have a debt service for less than 80% of the value

They will eventually fall off and I have no plans on selling my properties anytime soon.I do have to stay on them or they forget about me amid all the work they have to do.  

One example given is that outside of your SDIRA - if you sell a property , it is immediately subjected to taxation to the tune of 20% or so - that means you only have 80% of that money available to invest into another property - of course you can do a 1031 exchange to defer the taxes - but doing a 1031 exchange is not always that easy - there are certain restrictions and time limits that you have to adhere to or you wont be able do it properly - you have to identify your subject property within 45 days and many investors will identify multiple properties so that if they don't get the offer accepted on one - then they have others to fall back on  - if you cant find another property quickly - then you may not be able to 1031 it.

Maybe Tosa, West Allis, and similar pockets in the city, any gems I might find in the falls, etc. assuming i abandon Duplexes.  

This would include all forms of extra motivation (divorce, pre-foreclosure, etc) but would also include many people who don't really fall into these categories, and simply have equity.

We would like to obtain the asset rather than her throwing in the towel early and letting the chips fall where they may.