Every comp I looked at had new stainless steel appliances.

I've heard of it being done in a steel mill water reclamation system where the original cast iron piping was rotting out inside of cement floors etc due to the corrosive/leeching by incoming low pH waste water.

I believe that the population is trending away from this area and towards the south (away from dayton) Additionally the property taxes in Kettering have been going up quite a bit, so be sure that you factor that into your calculations, as you would need to increase rents to keep up. 

Most important thing is to just buy and hold.... 10 years from now trends will change, and we will still be glad we bought now. 

I agree it's the holy grail to get in on a gentrifying area before the trend catches on and ride out the increased rents without technically doing any value-add.

The national trends show people moving south and west but Des Moines seems to be bucking that trend, at least for now.

Information needs to include; taxes, county assement, mortgage infor, comparatives, owners, transaction history, mls info, property info, house info, market trends for that area.

In 2018, these "artists" can be replaced by millennial hipsters that open coffee shops, juice bars, and hot yoga studios in low income areas subsequently causing the area to get increasingly better over time.Has anyone else noticed this trend?

I've been researching opportunity zone funds, and I can see how this very well may become the next big trend in investing.

Going up through walls is easy, often just 2 small holes in the wall, one to drill the plate and and one for the cat, the cross piece between studs usually halfway up a wall. fishing in the direction of the joists is easy, going across them can be done with small holes spanning the joist, notching it for the cable, and then put a steel plate over it.Given that your problem unit is ground floor, it's likely you can fish up from the basement very easily for outlets using "old work" steel boxes, plastic boxes don't work with plaster on lath, it's too thick.