Clean the mold up with bleach and repaint with Kilz, put the exhaust fan in like suggested earlier. 

I would say exhaust every option.

Always ensure that regardless of your kitchen countertop ideas , go for materials which  can withstand wear and tear are durable while cooking and preparation.

I've exhausted my conforming Fannie/Freddie backed loans (10) so the deal numbers must be better than every deal I've done to date to work at commercial/portfolio loan interest rates and shorter amortization periods. 

Shawn,I do not agree with your assessment on the commercial side.If you are talking about paying ALL CASH for a property then at 1.2 million and below you will have more limited inventory.What I don't understand is why you are not trying to leverage with financing versus exhausting all your cash??

Do most investor buying out of state, investing for the first time or are they experienced already exhausted their local market?

As a lender, I have thoroughly exhausted attempting to use this for a couple clients in this situation. 

(i.e. when will you sell, what is the NOI, and what is your cap rate assumption - I recommend assuming a cap rate that is 20 to 50 bps, which is 0.2% to 0.5%, higher than the in-place cap rate).This is by no means exhaustive but should give you a good place to start.

At least in California, "modular" is a "prefabbed" home, built to the exact same California building code standards as a site built home, PLUS so extra provisions added because it has to withstand being towed on a flatbed truck. 

While some increased equity may occur the upcomming interest rates increases will wipe most of that out and they will be in need of selling that which they purchased and the discounts of today will be available once again to the astute investor watching for this to begin happening.While some of it will occur sooner than the time period listed there will be those who will not give up on their dream until their "nest egg" is exhausted.