I want to convert that attic to a master bed with stairs access from backyard.

The frames are rotted, the lintels look like they've popped the stones/masonry and letting water through, and there's some sagging of the front porch (above these windows) causing a few cracks in the cement and more leaking into basement room below.

What we have been finding since we purchased it, it that there is an unpleasant drainage problem by the front stairs.

We noticed that a section of house the floors were not leveled but instead of tearing everything apart the sub contractor just compensated and leveled as he tiled.Fast forward to today we get a call from the down stairs owner that they were having cracks in the ceiling and once they removed to repair they noticed that 2-3 trusses were failing at the connection point.

Where was I...Find a good contract, and find a good investor friendly attorney (closing agent).These are just a minimal set of steps... but consider this..and I said this before when I was still like you.. a mere mortal...Imagine a curved stair way.

I thought the case studies were useful exercises in cementing the ideas that Gallinelli taught in the book.

Door edges, door jambs, or stair treads with lead paint on them need to be abated. 

I have wood floors on the first floor and on the 2nd floor (including stairs) is the short industrial type carpet. 

I live in the basement because usually the basement level is the "lesser" of the two levels so you can maximize the rental income of the property by renting out the "nicer" level for more money.You are also right that walling of the upstairs and the downstairs can be tricky, but some front entrances are set up in a way where the stairs to go downstairs are right there when you walk in the front door, so you put up some walls that you will take down when you go to resell it as a single family home and create a little foyer and then you have separate entrances.

The typica test includes a magnometer (super duper metal detector) as well as looking for signs of a tank (vent or fill pipes, cemented over holes in the foundation wall where the lines came in, etc).