Having the $1M to sink into a single investment already makes an assumption that wealth preservation will be a factor in that decision.  

We have up to 30k at the moment that we are willing to invest in order to preserve a healthy cushion of 'just in case' money.  

A property preservation company serving New Jersey, Philadelphia area.

You need to build a team of attorneys, a servicer, realtors, property managers, preservations companies, and others.

Then I like to do things to preserve the building such as caulk and paint, roof maintenance, systems maintenance, trimming back vegetation, etc.

While in theory, a lender can go judicial instead of the trustee route to preserve a deficiency against a borrower who does not otherwise have a deficiency defense it does not happen very often.

Then address stuff that needs fixing/is worn, starting with anything that serves to preserve the life of the property.

If you were trying to preserve sec 121, there are other ways to handle this correctly either by waiting 3 years or selling to controlled corp. 

No insurance, taxes, preservation, vandalism, clean out, rehab, extended holding periods, etc to worry about. 

If you preserved historic features, it will be apparent and should be noted.