I love the aspect of distressed properties  of working some magic to make a home go from ugly and inhabitable, to a place where a family would want to live. 

(Certificate of Occupancy) up to code for inhabitability. 

. - I have driven for dollars on properties that seem old, distressed and vacant, though do not show that they are uninhabited in the deeds and are not in my ListSource list ... all of my ListSource properties [thus far] were either inhabited or seemed inhabited, although it may be that I did my run on SaturdayThank You,Patrick

And if that is the case and this area is that far gone then well there probably is no hope then is there .. for the neighborhood or the people that inhabit it is that the point of all of this...

But there are civilian legal reps that will help you with these type of issues.

The landlord tenant relationship has definitely gotten "chilly" and my patience has been tested one too many times, plus there are upgrades I want to do so I can raise rent, upgrades I can't perform while the property is being inhabited.

With fewer than 1200 inhabitants, if you get the property back that's a pretty small pool to draw a new buyer from.

To paint a picture, the house was most recently inhabited by a hoarder whom had left nearly everything for the next person to deal with. 

@Nathan Maier Forgot to mention, since this appears to be a little bit of an aviation thread that I am a retired Air Force aviator (GR- 1 and F-111)Cool to read your history and how you made the transition to civilian life work.

If it is not complete, then there is no Certificate of Occupancy (or similar doc) stating inhabitance is allowed.