I'm in the Boston area and purchased a brownstone that has one connected brownstone by a fire wall on its right side.

You also generally need to know about fire prevention in the building such as firewalls, sprinkler systems, or whether each unit has a fire extinguisher.

They were required to meet fire codes on a two story.. new fire "Walls and ceiling" separate HVAC. 

According to the seller they can be either, due to there being a firewall from floor to ceiling, but also one roof and 1 foundation. 

When you renovate, You need to bring upto today’s code( firewall, fire sprinklers, electric, plumbing, insulation...)With all the above, check the renovation cost, it becomes kind of new construction.Let me know if need more details Thanks Reddy

One of the biggest risks of investing via SDIRA is breaking the firewall between the SDIRA and you - committing a prohibited transaction, mixing funds, providing your SDIRA a service, other things like that.Buying a property on your own makes that very difficult.

I have a detached garage which is more than three feet from the main structure, however the roofs of the two structures are touching. Does the wall in the garage need to be fire rated? I don't know of the three foot r...

The sheet rock went up, but hasn't been mudded...parts need to come down to place firewall protection.I'm looking for individuals or a team that can help me get permits and finish the work. 

I'll do that tonight, when I'm no longer behind my corporate firewall.

Between hidden framing issues, hidden electrical/plumbing issues, code compliance issues (smoke detectors, firewalls, etc), nice-to-haves (landscaping, etc), it's very easy to go 10% over a hard bid from a contractor.In the future, I'd recommend that if you budget is $160K, you try to negotiate a hard bid closer to $130K, and then -- as Rick suggested -- have a secret contingency budget of $30K.