@Chris Collins  thats one whopper loan for bare un entitled dirt  wow !! 

From a feel perspective it’s like stone but doesn’t have the same cool-touch that you get from bare concrete.

I'm barely breaking even, and this would be a huge cost for me.

You need to research your market.From a financial perspective your monthly rent should be equilivant to 1% of the value of the home as a bare minimum.

A friend had 3 rowhomes there, pulled out after 3 years after barely being able to evict tenants.

I concede it barely cash flows without 50% down but it’s one of those purchases that’s for the longer term if not for shorter term cash flow.

Is it an absolutely bare bones block building?

It's been 6 months and the house is still bare studs.

What I can't understand, is that if you pull 80% of the equity out to buy another property, all you did was make your payment much larger and you no longer cash flow, or just barely make the expenses....  

There are no exceptions If approved, you will turn on the utilities and bare all the costs to do so as well as the cost to de winterize and re winterize the property.