I didn't anticipate this, but during the course of my day, I've discovered that there are both an REIA and an REIF (and who knows if there are more that I haven't uncovered yet!).  

There's also an impervious cover requirement -- a certain percentage of the lot has to remain uncovered by structure or asphalt so that there's less runoff to contend with; I think it's a 60/40 split but I can't recall which number is impervious and which is for the permeable. the living space itself was capped at 850 SF last time I looked and was usually done in an apartment over a detached garage.

Two Bigger Pocket podcasts later I'm at about 25% done uncovering this floor from two layers of the worst over-layment ever invented (the walls of this room had been paneled in the 60's...to think I thought that was bad, HA)! 

No need to waste time going there if a quick search online uncovers some info not to your liking.Good luck in your new venture.Jill Cleary

You only release them once you have done a full inspection to uncover any hidden items first.

In states that do not require disclosure or "No Representation", it is the buyer's responsibility during due diligence to uncover defects through inspections, ect. 

A good originator would have an in depth discussion with you about all of those things so we could try and uncover the best balance. 

In these old houses half the time when you first uncover it it looks twice as bad as it actually is. stab the existing wood with a good size screwdriver to find weakend and rotted areas.

I think there are different investment opportunities in any market but you have to kiss a few frogs (maybe a lot) to uncover them. 

Thorough research of your project’s financial and architectural design constraints will eliminate costly assumptions and guess work by uncovering facts, establishing construction costs and a realistic project budget.