I negotiate short sales full time professionally and have for 10+ years.

At this point, I just organized all my existing contacts into various groups: Colleagues, Professionals, and so forth.

Get insurance and an attorney  or other professional that can help you develop an asset protection plan. 

Classic case of a professional tenant.

I will try using the “connect” feature to get ahold of you privately.

I would partner with a professional REA who can give you and your partner a realistic idea of what you can afford and how much the "cost of money" will be for you two considering your individual situations.

We're planning on hiring a professional property management company to run the daily operations of the investment property as well as implement all capital improvement.The question is, can my self directed IRA invest in an LLC that I'm the managing partner?  

We also have a growing population of educated professional tenants that will target SFHs and absent landlords.

There may be some investors in your area here on BP so use the search feature at the top to look for those members and reach out to them.

Owner had to do a lead cleanup a couple years ago b/c of CMHA, and it was professionally remediated.