He was investing in a little town called Covilhã, and told me all about the region.

For various reasons, I'd really like to get a tenant in there who has personal roots/ties in the town I'm in.

And a prime example is Pittsburgh, coming from a Steel town to a tech town is a major transformation. 

simply look were you live in Milwaukee.. and look at all those great 30's and 40s houses on the north side of town you can buy for under 100k but it would cost 400k to rebuild them.. in those areas building new just wont happen until things change demographically and if it does not pencil for you doubt you can sell it to any one else.. so the smaller project maybe what you do.. then at some point in the future where economics catch's up.. you demo the small improvements and go vertical.

Is the $20K that you'll cash out enough to get a new house built (with whatever loaned, etc you'll need)?

small towns in upstate NY Small towns north of Orlando

He said that he is out of town, but sometimes comes back at night, so I went to the property to get the fridge swapped, to my surprise it was working!. 

A stick built duplex or home would appreciate more then a mobile.  

My concern is trying to break out of the local perception of the adjacent town and trying to pull b class tenants in a c class area again only due to the reputation of the town as a whole.

I am in NY, and having a w/d inside in the winter is always appreciated by busy grads who don't have time to go to the place in town, where it costs double.