Take a deep breath . . .

I've been nose-deep in turnkey world for about 7 years now.

The US subsidiaries of Canadian banks are leery of financing Canadian purchases in the US unless the borrower has a significant and deep relationship with these institutions in Canada. 

When I was younger and deep in debt with little cash, I was forced to use my day job to build up my cash reserves and pay down my debt.

I have owned 4 of them.. and did well on each.. but very tough to find.. there are some major players on the west coast that dominate it.not nearly the amount of them as I see out in the deep south.. 

Take a deep breath.You have a ton to break down in that long post but let me ask you this.  

Usually when you replace a sewer , you are only opening up about 4 ft wide at the house , and unless its a full basement with a bathroom the ditch is only about 4 ft deep on average .  

I personally believe though that it is very easy to get into the trap of analysis paralysis if you go to deep into this.

However, it does not always make financial sense to empty and gut the building to carry out a deep retrofit (and even when it does, that initial whooshing roar of capital flying out of your bank account can be unsettling).As of late, we have been purchasing rather, to very, unloved buildings with plans to (eventually) perform deep retrofits on many of them {where the increase in the property performance will pay-back the investment in a relatively short period (say 3 - 6 years) versus the planned hold duration (i.e. 20yrs).   

Not ashamed, as intimidation is Nature's way of saying, "Make sure the ice is six inches deep before you go running across the lake."