The root of this question is this, what does one do when significantly too much depreciation has been claimed in previous tax years by mistake on a property that was sold this tax year? 

Anton Ivanov Thanks for sharing and I’m rooting for your continued success.

With that, we became the American Association of Private Lenders—and we began spreading the word.Finally, Some DefinitionsUnderpinning the concept of minimizing the use of “hard money” in our industry is a recurring theme of standardization—that the root of the issue is too many interpretations of what the same terms mean.We offer up the following definitions for discussion, debate, fine-tuning, and eventual consensus [last updated 5/9/2022]:Private lender: Any non-depository individual or entity that primarily originates business-purpose loans secured by hard assets, generally real estate.Hard money lender: A subset of private lender where creditworthiness is determined solely by the securing real estate collateral.Correspondent lender: A subset of private lender where the closed loan is sold to investors.Portfolio lender: A subset of private lender where the closed loan remains in the lender’s portfolio.Fund manager: A subset of private lender where, depending on the fund structure, the deployed capital is sourced by offering exempted securities to accredited and occasionally non-accredited private investors.Private investor: An individual or entity that seeks a return by deploying capital through a private lender or fund; the investor may or may not be named on the loan’s promissory note.Private money broker: Any individual or entity that acts as an intermediary between a borrower and a private lender without directly originating the loan.

I have some roots and a property in coastal California and have seen the benefits of this appreciation first-hand, but the costs still blow my mind and I don't have a ton of cash to throw around.  

It will not end well, but you will spend a ton of time and effort before you find that you can't change them.This isn't just about cleaning the apartment, there are probably root causes of the hoarding that you are not qualified to diagnose and treat. 

Balloon" framing (1920's I believe).Radon.Plaster and lathe instead of sheet rock (pre 1950's) or plaster and wire mesh variations (50's) more solid than sheetrock but a real b*tch to repair or demo if you're remodeling.You've got Galvy plumbing but also need to look out for other kinds of outdated plumbing like clay sewer lines (pre-1930's, prone to collapsing, bellies, root intrusion), cast iron (1950's, often rusted and/or cracked by now), and PB (polybutylene, gray-colored water pipes, 1980's, prone to rapid degradation and subsequent bursting, mostly gone by now).Buried Oil Tanks-- Do you have those there?

Rooting for you from NJ :) 

To get to the the root of "as-is", find out if seller intends to deny access for inspections altogether.

We are rooting for you.

You will have lots of BP cheerleaders rooting for you no matter the damage done to the sellers, lies, deceit, and dishonesty.