Rent control is the biggest PITA, for sure. 

If you want to take control of the property without title transferring, to avoid the seller having to pay off the mortgage, you could do something like a lease option, where you make monthly payments to the owner in title (perhaps the same as the loan terms you discussed) and you are given the right to purchase the property any time in the future at a set price ($143,000).

I am selling now to take advantage of not paying cap gains (and I dislike knowing that assessments are coming that I don't have control over). 

People will want to work with you and then you are in control of negotiating the lending structure. 

I know with conventional financing at closing I'd take "control" of that property and be able to refinance after X amount of months.

I'm all about that hustle until I'm in a position financially to know I can commit to paying someone good money to do a fantastic job doing it the way I want (subtext: I'm a super frugal control freak!)

Investing in a market where you have no knowledge, no control, thousands of miles away, that has less competition and less demand for properties (which is why they are cheaper and appear to cash flow more day one), and where you will be 100% reliant on strangers to make or break your investment for you, with the thought that will somehow be more profitable doesn't sound like a strategy worth pursuing at the moment.

I plan to enter into a deal using my Roth IRA funds which are invested in an LLC with checkbook control.

By deciding that you want to be a passive investor, you're fixing your RETURNS and have no control over TIME. 

Debt is debt in any manner Leverage should be used in a controlled way So many posts on BP suggest 3.5 percent down processes to be homeowners but nobody advises on how much reserves are needed to deal with maintenance and vacancies.