I think the area is rebuilding slowly but surely.

If the guy has to basically rebuild the house in an area with all kids of permitting issues, you may want to give him more than 50%.

Luckily for him, he's a pretty decent handyman, so in exchange for clearing his debt to us, he is rebuilding the shower, most of the plumbing in the bathroom, painting the apartment and cleaning up the property for us.

I have some cash but only "fair" credit, which I am in the process of rebuilding.

Which is why i'm hesitant.This is a flip from an investment firm which rebuild the complex.

I keep Actual Cash Value on my house in Toledo because it's not a "tear down and rebuild" area.

@Joseph Weisenbloom  Whatever steps you decide to take with the city, the lender probably wants a rebuild letter (from the city), stating that if the property were destroyed by fire or other damage that it could be rebuilt to its present use.

It might even take away from what I have right now, for example if I decide to demolish the old structure and rebuild it from scratch I might not be able to do that.

On the other hand, if you have to drag a new line for a mile and rebuild a portion of the power company's infrastructure so they and feed you, it might cost you $20K or more.

I stumbled into an idea and wanted to bounce it off the community.  In the NYC metro suburbs, I found a number of houses in a fairly prestigious suburb, that are old, small, and for the overall  community and larger a...