Only reason I'd paint is to go for the country kitchen look with a nice creame colored paint and worn iron hardware.

You will get the cream of the crop when it comes time to get a tenant and maintenance expenses will go down.      

Because if they did, most of those note investors would probably get creamed.  

Congrats also on doing a solo deal belly to belly with the seller.A couple of my takeaways as a dusty old LL thinking more of selling than buying these days-1) When you sell a property in a different market as an absentee owner, you may be a motivated seller and get creamed by a local investor. 2) Don't accept VA or FHA loans from your buyer.

Please send me a "My Suger Pie" sugar cream pie from the same company name in Zionsville IN.

I'll say too, that a money guy who never really gets involved, just writes a check and shows up is not the entrepreneur of the deal, thier assessment of the deal is as a lender, covering thier interests, don't count that function twice as underwriting the money and the overall success of the project, that's like selling the ice cream and then charging for keeping it frozen.And, in all fairness, I'd say that any profits remaing, unassigned by function, would be split 50/50, the value of being together in a partnership, might say the cost of putting up with each other!

Some ideas in my head are - Clothing, Jewelry, Stationary, Organic Foods, Global ethnic products to sell locally, Outdoor Sports, Coffee shop, Yogurt or Ice Cream Shop.I was thinking I could visit some of the local colleges and just market that I have the space for the right person/ biz plan.

I was a painter interior designer for 10 years 15 years ago, and we painted brick often in black semi-gloss paint with cream stucco. and black trim.

Is this realistic say for a sandwich or ice cream type location?

Just have to separate the wheat from the chaff, the cream from the crop well, you know.