You then parlay that into more and more properties, and that's a springboard to building massive wealth!

I'd wager the previous tenants just never mentioned the issues and there was not a detailed walk-through prior to the current tenants moving in. 

Personally, I think that there is very little that my kid could do at a young age that would result in me wanting to pay a minimum wage rate for the work.That said, there are opportunities for a young baby/child to 'earn' income such as if they are used in advertising for the business. 

The more experience I can get under my belt, the more I'm likely to earn as a contractor/real estate agent, the ability to parlay my experiences.

I would add, when you did the inspection, the gas should have been turned on to get a proper full inspection, and at that time you would have found out about the problems when the gas company says they can't turn it on for the inspection.I would wager that the cost to get everything vented and make gas company happy is <$1000 and perhaps <$500.

Like taking the profits from your residuals and parlaying them to other investment avenues.

I'll wager most of your detractors on this particular dear are pissed that they didn't get it.

I love the real estate investing world and hope to parlay the sales career into commercial investment.  

Pets smell" lol I would like to make a very high wager with you.

However, Chicago has over 200 neighborhoods and 100 + suburbs - some of which are experiencing great positive economic and population swings and others that are swaying the wrong direction parlayed with a lot of future unknowns.