Big, Old Houses

[Kyle Sutton]

In my general area there are a number of big, old houses ( 3 stories, 5+ bedrooms) that seem vacant, or are at the very least not being kept up very well.  I suspect most of them have been sub-divided in the past.  What are some creative things that an investor could do with these types of homes?  Are they just money pits?  I have trouble believing that there is much hope for a fix and flip on these sorts of properties around here since they would just take too much of an investment to fix up and there likely wouldn't be much of a market for the price range on the other end.  

What have you done or seen done in the past to salvage these sorts of once grand properties?  Group homes? B & B?  Some sort of specialized housing?