The property has functioned and will continue to function as a rental "as is" assuming you are not being forced to do any work.If it is not required you are placing your personal feelings/opinions ahead of smart business decisions.The business formula is buy, do only necessary repairs, upgrade only to increase rent, place tenant, earn money.

Flying cars would be great too and we have talked about them for 25 years and where are we with themSome businesses yes blockchain may be functional and efficient but I have severe doubts on getting the lending industry and local jurisdictions doing this.

However, this is a business and I want to make sure it is functioning properly.

My subjective view is it is slowing a bit but many states, especially rural states, will need travelers for a perpetual amount of time just to function.

However, I knew that the stairwell had zero impact on the actual functionality of the property, and that it would have zero impact on its desirability as a rental.

Does it take command of ones cognitive functions of reason and decision making?

I personally don't like fireplaces and if a property had one, I would say immediately when showing the house that the fireplace 'wasn't functional'.

Less important initially, but also good to get insurance loss runs on a building this old (at 50 years) along with identifying functional obsolescence items (e.g. no central air). $200 (even $500) is a giveaway that you didn't get a quote and do your homework. 

If I did I may want to keep those ones completely separate from the other stuff regardless of how well tracked and "classed" my QB file is.From a legal standpoint, your attorney may make a case for breaking out each property and function into its own LLC.

But not sure if the plumbing is up to code because of old pipes, and there was no reason to redo the entire system if it was functional.