In US tax law, the depreciable lifespan of an asset is defined by its MACRS classification which stands for “Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System.”Under MACRS, depreciable assets are assigned to different classes, with each class having a specific recovery period.

Replacing one bad fixture between material and labor can end up being 3X the cost of buying the better quality fixture in the first place.  

If you have excellent credit and enough for a down payment/closing costs without totally wiping out your funds, I say go for it!

One of my connections will fund the rehab for less and give it all to us on the upfront to finish the project at a lower cost.

Yes, you personally aren't living there, but with high crime comes unqualified tenants and high maintenance costs (stolen materials, broken windows, etc.).

I assume a higher upfront cost as far as land purchase and the actual build but you would have a brand new house, instant equity and hopefully maintenance free for quite a while.

Here's an article with FAQs including the cost of a study.

Alternatively, if I can find a lower cost single fam home where I can cash out 100% of my investment I would do that but those have been harder to find recently. 

Just kidding (sort of).A lawsuit will cost you $25,000 to $125,000 and a year and a half of your life.

But from a moral & ethical perspective, you may want to decide at some point to just eat it and accept write it off as cost of doing business.