@Clara ConstableEven if someone give you a referral, what meets their expectations, may not meet yours.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

Select your team including a real estate agent, closing company, construction company etc and make sure they know your intentions for the project including timelines, ARV goals, etc.

Selecting quality jockey first (syndicator), then the horse (property), is usually best.

One of my selection criteria so far has actually been small lots, because I don't want to pay for landscaping service or spend my weekends trimming somebody else's shrubs.

It includes details on how to select markets, establish criteria for selecting properties, due diligence and underwriting, etc. 

Where you are going to want to focus your attention is on the leads/skiptracing facets.  1st, unique and proprietary lead sources are hard to come by and expensive. 

Is this a unique tax that's only applicable when using an ira as the down payment?

The situation you describe is not unique to this area.  

What are some things to consider that may be unique to buying this type of rental?

Uri Rafaeli, who lost his property and all the equity associated with it, is just one of thousands of people to be victimized by Michigan's uniquely aggressive property tax statute.