Rehabbed property cosmetically -- cleaning, painting, new fences, garage doors, lighting, faucets, A/C units, appliances and landscaping.

It's just a matter of removing the old mortar material, cleaning out the opening, and then applying new mortar in the space.

I’ve found HD laminate with white subway tile backsplash looks great is easy to clean & affordable

I did have the building painted - and made sure it was cleaned up.

I keep hearing bits and pieces about a rental strategy that is best called "Renting to the Disabled by the Room for Above Market Rent" that goes something like this: (1) Buy a house with as many legal bedrooms as you can that still has a decent sized common area, (2) rent it out to the relatively high functioning disabled crowd, (3) via some [unnamed] Government program the State pays above market rents for each of the tenets. (4) Send a house keeper 1-2 times per week to ensure the place stays clean and otherwise make sure there are no issues.The up side is: you get above market rent with a much higher than average tenant count.

Regarding the high cost of the abatement process, my understanding is that it is mostly labor for the intense cleaning they need to do after the abatement.

Now, I don’t know Cleveland or your area, but Malcom Gladwell wrote a bit on tipping points where an example was NYC cleaning up grafitti and trash to lower crime.

For my part, i let the hot summer day passs and call in for a moisture cleaning for 640sqft on surface between the roof and cost me about 2700$ but  that was the only major concerne for a  1970 bungalow.i would pull the plug depending at your lvl  of repair skill 

Clean house and start fresh.

We refinished hardwoods, added carpet, completely redid the kitchen, light fixtures, and painted the interior and exterior.