Mark, perhaps the reason you've been hearing pundits sound the alarm for the past 40+ years is due to the fact that politicians/government spending keep increasing our debt and our income/GDP is never going to get us out of that!

It is a side by side duplex with a ancillary unit (converted garage into a single family) and after running through it with my home inspector and contractor, it's looking like I'm going to need to put $40k into it in just safety upgrades (3 unfit falling over porches, deteriorated window sills, smoke alarms, second means of egress).

., fire alarms placed in the wrong location etc.).  

My sprinkler guy is saying i also need NFPA 12 system installed for low voltage fire alarm systems , with wireless communication to the firehouse... any one know what is actually required on a three family home?

They also call out the  alarming *(but typical, today) drop of the larger-oriented Retail sector. 

The smoke alarms went off, of course she couldn't hear them, neighbor saw the flames, pounding on the door, called 911.

You will burn cash at an alarming rate. 

Secure the doors and window - post signs - portable alarm that sounds and calls police - notify local cops to drive by often - turn the utilities on and pay someone to stay there.We have some of those neighborhoods in Baltimore - I feel your concerns.As a lender you might want to offer the property at public auction and offer 100% seller financing - this way you have a loan back on the books and an asset protected.I represented a lender in Baltimore who had a bad loan and a pending foreclosure, the defaulting mortgagor gave the bank a deed, we advertised it for an auction with 100% lender financing - We had 80 people at the sale bidding against each other to get the building.

If you can do plumbing sure you can easily do yourself.Another consideration is ability to remote control homes heat and AC, remotely turning off water heaters to save energy when no guest in house,door locks for remote code management and alarm to protect house.

I'm going to be closing on a vacant property in a tougher area soon and besides putting an alarm system in, we're also looking into options for boarding it up.There's the classic plywood option of course, which is almost certainly the cheapest but also looks awful and advertises "vacant/abandoned property".In the last few years it seems like a few other options have come up: VPS (vps360.com) steel door & window coveringsSecureView (secureviewusa.com) clear boarding, used by FNMAInvisiBoard (products.cyprexx.com/InvisiBoard)Dawgs (dawgsinc.com) steel and clear boardingI know I've seen a few VPS protected properties around in my area.