I had a similar deal and had to go back to the original purchase that started the mess and reconstruct everything and when all was said and done, none of the supposed heirs had a legal interest.

If it's a big job (e.g. inside the walls), some people will charge you, and depending upon where the bees are, reconstruction may be needed.My wife and I answered a swarm call once where a huge hive was found inside the walls of a church.

Better might be something that pays the bills but exposes you to RE (construction, office work for a company in the field).At some level assume that a sales job might be great training for life but a real negative for credit.

I am living in Augusta Georgia right now doing an internship with Balfour Beatty Construction working on a $68 million hospital reconstruction and addition.

I've discarded the spreadsheet I used for your calculations, but you should be able to reconstruct it.

Mechanical repairs IE Roofs, re-construction, electrical, Plumbing, ETC.3.

What would you get rid of first to before the reconstruction took place.

Lots of individual residential and several small subdivisions, retail, plus a good mix of dorky engineering stuff for street reconstructions, forensic studies, etc.

., in a real property trade or business) if:1) more than one-half of the personal services you provided during the year were performed in a real property trade or business in which you materially participated; AND2) the number of hours in which you materially participated in this real property trade or business was more than 750 hours; AND3) you must materially participate in each rental real estate activity unless you filed an election to group all rental real estate activities as one (and materially participate in that activity).A "real property trade or business" means any real property development, redevelopment, construction, reconstruction, acquisition, conversion, or rental operation, management, leasing, or brokerage trade or business.Personal services performed as an employee are not treated as being performed in a real property trade or business unless you are a more than 5% owner of the trade or business.For joint return purposes, the eligibility requirements are considered met if either you or your spouse separately satisfy the requirements.

Inquire after the back-story as well: are the any current or recent delinquencies or eviction proceedings, what is the occupancy history, etc.If those numbers suggest a promising cash flow, then move on to the next step, called "reconstructing the owner's statement."