Any damage to the Premises (including, without limitation, concrete walkways and stairs) caused by Tenant's use of ice melt, salt or similar product shall be the sole responsibility of Tenant, and Tenant shall be responsible for the cost and expense any repairs required as a result thereof."

However, if I own the adjacent lot I now can fence in some vacant land and create a massive yard.

One thing I would recommend is a having a concrete idea of what the scope of work needs to be prior to showing up with your contractor. 

Block construction is solid (better than metal but not as desirable as concrete tilt), im assuming it was built in the 70's?

We're talking about tearing up all the pee-soaked carpet (dogs..) and bleaching/disinfecting the concrete foundation underneath, replacing a majority of the second floor sub-floor, fixing the roof, fixing the HVAC, repairing the garage (door hanging on by a thread), scrubbing and disinfecting all the cabinets (roach feces everywhere), tearing up and replacing the landscaping, fixing the roof, inspecting and repairing any water damage... the list goes on and on.

Keep your eyes peeled for deferred maintenance issues on the concrete work, stairs, landings, slabs.7.

BP is a great tool for networking online...may not help as much with investors in your area, but it's a massive network.

The goal is to create massive value in those early years, after that, you are pretty much subject to the market rent growth of say 3%.  

Now, due to our variety of tasks, I am competent in the areas of excavation, concrete, wood framing, flooring, roofing, some electrical, and some plumbing.

We were going to do concrete and had a contractor come to give us a quoteAnd YES I KNOW, we should have checked him out before trying to use him.