The tenants are currently in court with a title dispute so the house would have to be paid for cash only.I would like to convert it to a primary residence and turn the garden level into a separate two bedroom apartment for use as an in law suite.

One land speculation I bought 4 acres in sonoma County CA ( wine country) in 96 for 27k it was unbuildable at the time ( could not get a septic system on it) Well city grew to us The Graton Casino comes in right across the street and we sold a few years ago for over 2 mil to a land assemblage investment company.

You don't have to fly halfway across the country to try and figure all of that out.

A piece of advise if he lays hands on you or your son immediately go to court and see if it qualifies for a peace order or similar. 

It takes time with court meetings, etc as a debtor or creditor. 

But, did you know that your beautiful country of origin Mexico also has plenty of exciting real estate investment opportunities?

There are numerous paths to wealth in this country; they can't all align with your goals.

As the 3rd largest MSA in the country it's hard to generalize the Chicago market as it's actually over 100 different submarkets when counting the 78 communities in Chicago property and then adding in the various suburbs, including in and around Naperville. 

Avoid Kaufman county, that's good ol'boy country there.

I doubt you will have to do this, but some areas of the country are nutsy...