My concern for you is: is the juice worth the squeeze?

It sounds like there's a chance this group may not be doing it in the most compliant manner, which does happen and can really hit the investors hard when projects go belly-up.

There are some things that can be tested without juice running through - but an electrician would have the right tools and be able at least get an idea of the diagnosis.If you're not able to test the electrical then you might want to plan for the worst-case scenario in your budget (the place burning down the instant you get the power on), and hope for only the 2nd worst case scenario (100% update of service and wiring).It could also be something incredibly simple to deal with - like a main breaker that is bad.

Then you need to decide if the juice is worth the squeeze.

Can you rent out a room or two and really juice your monthly income to start knocking those bills down?

@Jake Thornton I don't have the answer to this but I'm replying to give this some "forum juice".

I would juice up your numbers more than normal to cover for the headache factor. 

A typical problem would include the simplest approach, resulting in a relatively low return, to strategies for juicing it up and maximizing your money.

Belly-to-belly . . . or online works pretty good, too.

Though I contemplated it earlier this year, I can’t see the juice being worth the squeeze.