As I've come to terms with this I have taken the last five months to regroup and really think about the future which brings me to my post and what I'd like to get the communities opinion on.I successfully negotiated and acquired one of my duplexes in 2017 that I nearly have paid off (note balance is $54k, property value $230k).

I was going to bring up that the seller financing doesn’t matter if you plan to get a construction loan as the seller financing will have to be paid off. 

@Chris SeveneyRight, Its basically impossible to know for sure the "extra" cost - unless we bring is some kind of engineer -  which is total overkill. 

They are in decent shape but will get some rehab to bring them up to shape.

Your better bet may be to bring on an equity partner, just realize that you will probably be giving up 30-50% of the business if you go that route, but in the long run its probably end up doing much better.

Hey Jeffrey, I am from Mount Vernon (Parents still live out in the Tulip Fields off of Memorial Hwy), but currently live in HI.

Above are just hypotheticals, but they bring to light the point, which is, evaluating opportunities requires apples to apples comparisons. 

Definitely a lot of growth here as Texas Instruments is investing $29 billion into a development to bring over 3000 high paying jobs to Sherman.

We had to bring the 1925 house to 2023 code which involved un-installing 26 windows that were already nicely installed (in appearance) in the house, reframing them to 2023 standards (at the time) which also involved strapping the bottom of the wood framing with metal straps (mind you this all after we had already completed the inside renovation).  

Instead of a traditional down payment, I would give them some money (maybe just to bring the loan back to even).The upside if taken over the loan at the current balance, with some rehab and hopefully getting the front lot back would be a nice ROI.