His skill was he could look at such a home and figure out whether it was better to restore it or tear it down and start over (with my house, he concluded it was 50-50 either way).

Not sure how bad the property is but if you can restore it to full potential just short of being a new build then I would take some opinions/ asks questions and go that route if it's able to be stabilized.

Replaced bathroom floor, restored original hardwood floors.

I also shop on craigslist and Restore.

Currently we are offering to cover 1) drying out of the property, 2) replacement of the damaged floor (includes moving tenants property into storage), 3) 'restoration' - replacing baseboards and drywall removed for drying out.The insurance company is disputing that a) the house was inhabitable during the drying process (note they have removed some of the vinyl floor and b) the final cleaning of the house (the tenant is complaining about dust on the appliances and in the cabinets).I'd like to know how it ended for you.ThanksRob

My grandfather does this, since he is in fire/water damage restoration, and has been very successful working with only fire damaged properties. 

There's also an unending stock of pre-1900 homes if you enjoy restoring homes. 

Also find credit restore companies to perform an annual check on the tenants to see if they are progressing.

They insurance company picked the restoration company, the smoke damage is all covered under the condo policy due to bylaws. 

Fire damaged property waiting on insurance payout and quotes from fire restoration company to see if the numbers work to keep as a rental or sell off.3.