Or you could live there for the required three years, and sublease it as a furnished rental on Air BnB for the remaining 2 years.

That is the pressure I am putting on myself to not over improve.  

;) I bet the Bel-Air mansion is also in the name of a trust or LLC, and I bet it is in a different name than any other properties they may own ... rich and famous quickly learn how to become rich and anonymous, but the truly smart rich folks never seek out fame in the first place ...

I would have the ducts cleaned, furnace/AC system cleaned as much as possible, change the filter, and then run an ozone machine with fans set up to circulate the air for 48 hours.

If I could add to what John Leavelle said  ; it could cost as much as $60,000 to do a full Rehab here in the Philadelphia Area        My Friend Sean just did a Rehab in the Port Richmond Area Close to Fishtown and he it was $60,000        Sean has done many flips and I thought he went as "Budget" as you possibly can , for an example ; he paid $7,000 for a brand new HVAC  (Heat & Air Conditioning)  with new duct work , where that would have been double in the open retail market       Good luck with the project & feel free to reach out to me if you need any help or have questions SincerelyRick      

Call on your neighbors if they aren't complying,, report their trash, their crap cars, their grass.. the overall curb appeal in the neighborhood will improve as well as the class of tenants.. help raise the bar.. and the rents..Photos of what's going on is fair way to approach the inspection department if you felt your being pressured.. but get in shape before you respond..

Despite pressure to completely gut the house, I am planning a "selective" demo -- pulling up all the hardwood flooring to the subfloor; demo-ing most ceilings and several interior plaster walls but not all -- and no exterior plaster walls except where fire damage took place.

I have 1650 sq ft under r air and 2050 sq ft all together. 3/2 with a mother in law suite.

If not, I'll deal with it - I should have pressured the repair person for the invoice sooner, so that's a lesson learned there.So in my case, we'll see.  

Time to find a Air BnB!