My Hell House! :)

[Paul Sanders]

I've been loving the podcast, and am looking forward to my first successful deal coming up this month. But, I have this hell house I purchased in 2007 and I'm wondering what you guys would do with it. 

Market: Portsmouth, VA

The good:

• Refinished hardwood floors that are lovely
• Nice looking neighborhood and street
• Big living / dining / kitchen / front sitting porch

The bad: 

• Duplex that rents for max $800 each unit, mortgage is $1800 (2 units that are 2/1), tends to attract young navy couples who move away in a year
• Bottom unit has been empty since September
• I live out of state
• They just put expensive tolls in for the tunnels
• Ranked some of the worst schools in the US
• Upstairs has a failing A/C
• Downstairs has no central air, and a gas boiler heater on it's last legs
• Small bedrooms with tiny closets
• The garage looks like a murder shack with doors hanging off
• Ceiling in downstairs bath has a bit of water damage that is ugly

My thoughts:

I'm going to try to see if I can refinance it and roll a bunch of these expensive repairs into it (new A/C for both units, fix garage up, etc). 

I had also considered turning the big living room into a 3rd bedroom with half bath (the dining room is big enough to become the living room). This way I can list it for families, but that's a bit of a weird layout and the quote is $14k to do it.  Worth it? 

Anyone have suggestions? I'm drowning in frustration with this thing.

Looking forward to getting past this and into some awesome deals though!

Thanks