Look at me, I have a bad history housing history!" 

You make it sound like it is a bad thing.I think it is wicked !

One bad tenant can easily approach 20K in damages and you need to insure your expense calculations are based on the life of the property not just the next 12 months.

For people who lived in Cleveland when he left; was the decline in the economy bad?

Be courteous and helpful but explain you will not tolerate late rent or bad behavior and you will be golden.

My circle of influence may be able to help but they are hesitant.

She sounds like a great tenant and I'm sure nothing bad will come from  you helping her out but you want to make sure you're protected.

bad or broken English... 

However, a few tax advisers (some famous, like Gary Sutton) consider purchasing real estate properties (a tax advantaged asset) within a SDIRA (a tax advantaged account) a bad proposition, on the idea the two of them nullify each other and lose the tax advantages (like depreciation).Therefore, I'm looking for people with experience with SDIRA's and using them for real estate investing - is it a good strategy or not?

Problem is finding a licensed contractor who won't nit pick and/or bad mouth the previous contractor because you didn't use a licensed guy in the first place.