Even a typical water heat replacement would set you back signficantly.There's plenty to the puzzle that i am unaware of but with what you've outlined here i would consider passing on the property.you know you need managementyou know you need to remove at least one tenantyou know cashflow is meager after considering management.i personally wouldn't recommend a client take on the risk for such a paltry pay out out of state.Even when considering long term appreciation the average amount of headache one assumes with a property will bog you down before the long term play pays off.

In our property, the house was open to the air in the damp environment of coastal Florida, no heat or A/C at the house.  

Heating temp increasing?

He said I would only need to keep it heated to around 35 degrees to keep it from heaving.

What is the cost of an HVAC system vs. a heat pump vs. forced hot water vs. baseboard and what is the cost to the tenant? 

For example, electrical is original from 1960, there is no central AC - heating it through baseboard heaters

This home currently doesn’t have any heat and my concern is bursting pipes. 

Landlord’s only option to collect funds for damages is to take tenants to court.More and more tenants are only having a portion of their rent covered by S8, so landlords need to still screen S8 applicants for portion they must pay.Landlord cannot charge S8 tenants a portion of shared utilities – which can lead to the infamous tales of tenant retaliation against landlord by blasting heat on high with open windows during winter.S8 caseworker response times can be very slow, as they are usually overworked & underpaid.Again, overall it’s a pretty good deal for a landlord that does some decent screening.Exposing Section 8 Housing | Tenants From hell 243 - YouTubeLiberals Blame this Eviction on Landlord Despite the Before & After Footage | Tenants From Hell 241 - YouTubeMy first Baltimore buy & hold investment - SOLD (Lessons learned) (biggerpockets.com)Besides MANY self-labeled "gurus" exaggerating their success, many of them just supply readily available info.If you're too busy to find the info and are willing to pay for it, no problem as you accept their time vs money solution.REGARDING S8 GURU ISSUES SPECIFICALLYMost of them don't share all the facts about how Section 8 actually works.They claim you can get HIGHER rent from S8 tenants vs private-paying tenants.Why would the government allow our tax dollars to be spent this way?

.- Also found terrible policies that owners had, that they didn't understand.4) Utilities: We check that all utilities are properly set up and cofirm or enroll in any Auto-Transfer of Service programs to avoid no heat during winter leading to frozen pipes.- Dealing with a very upset new owner client right now that previous PMC didn't handle the water account properly.

Hurricanes, tornados, fires, droughts, severe heat.