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."

Moral of the story, delve as deep as possible and get all the facts, you might be pleasantly surprised at the outcome :)

The next best thing is if it is burrowed in deep in the hole :Throw a smoke bomb or highway flare down in the hole by hand and then plug off the hole opening with a burlap sack or old blanket .

So if you get a stadium (like the SF Giants did) in a crappy area you can breathe new life into it.

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to refi into a new HELOC, granted you have enough equity to get a new loan to absorb the old one and still give you some breathing room.

I'll be thinking about you as we head into deep freeze here in Iowa.To your question, what's worked best for us is Craigslist listings with a link to our rental property Facebook page.