I can't write a check yet, my truck still starts every day and does what I need it to do, so I will have to see what I think when it hits 500,000 miles.I had already purchased my ebay special when they shared that story, but hearing what they had to say certainly cemented my thought process with regards to buying vehicles and other major purchases.

They also explained that since the properties were single storied, it was appealing to older people because there are no stairs.

The cement from the concrete will cause wood to dry rot.

I had tenants buy a bed that would not come up the stairs one time and I also got an apartment once because the tenants who rented it could not get the bed up the stairs (good luck for me) so this could be the sticking point. 

We just did one of these where we updated a unit on the ground floor and then asked one of our more senior long-term tenants if they would like to move from the 3rd floor ... they thought it was a good time to give-up all the stairs and gladly accepted the opportunity.

Are you saying to cut the loop from the down stairs and close it to isolate it to the upstairs unit?

My contractor built a wood stairway entrance to the top unit and I'm concerned my tenant will be trapped if there is a fire. can I put metal stairs near a window as an emergency fire escape?

Happy to take a look if you have some photos... the thing to worry about is if there are "stair stepped cracks" (cracks in the block running along the seams that go diagonal with the blocks).   

I ended up committing on the spot and cemented my intentions to attend NIACC in the fall of 2017.

I'll share another story, I had to option of taking my kitchen flooring down to the beams, replacing the subfloor(water damage/unlevel) and laying down vinyl flooring over it, or for $500 less I could pour self leveling cement and lay the vinyl over that.