Toledo is notorious for bad operators and poor quality of workmanship in many industries.Wishing you much success 🙏🏻  It's ok being a copy cat as long as you copy the right cat haha

Pending how bad the staining - i.e. how long the smoker was resident.  

Grants/government assistance can be a great way to get help with the downpayment, but be cautious as some can make the loan terms worse for you.

And how long does it take to rent?

What else should be doing in terms of tech, CRM, networking, social media and marketing to have max effects on mentee locating, market identification, tenant marketing And deal finding....

The private investors form an LLC and get standard loan terms in a promissory note without equity or profit sharing. 

If you’re in this for the long term you’ll need to make the odds favor you, not hope that things will be ok.

For multi-family going as a long term rental it will be hard to make cash flow unless doing a serious amount of down payment or getting a great interest rate.

But ultimately I’m not opposed to taking a calculated risk as long as I have a complete picture of the situation. 

The IRS has as long as you own the property plus 3 years to audit your depreciation schedule.