Just like over in Europe, furnished rentals will be normal.I specialize in +30 day furnished rentals because they are just as profitable as traditional Airbnbs but they have the added benefits of requiring less time to manage, less chance of parties/undesirable stuff, and they are typically not regulated by city laws.Essential Workers and Digital Nomads love extended stay rentals.

The posting investor mentioned the part of town for the second property as undesirable and your comments on appreciation speculation based on the reality of the area is important to consider.  

Checkbook control is the common solution for situations in which that impact is undesirable.

The mud distributes the load better.  

Also 6' is pretty tight if you need to replace any of the block basement walls.Since water is involved I'd also check the mud sills above the bricks for termites and rot.

How undesirable is that really from a 1.

It is supplied by a MUD and I have approval for 20 tiny home and a facility for laundry machines.

Getting a good smooth wall without putting multiple coats of mud on takes time to develop the skill.

Doing it right is a repeated mailing campaign over a period of months and that frigging dinosaur that advocated "golden letters" in my market center, his name is mud to me now. 

I mean stage as in clean up (no buckets of drywall mud or inflatable furniture present in pics lol).