If it is more on the affordable side, maybe find an able bodied person/couple who wouldn't mind living there full time and doing the cooking as well.

Tenants on one side started cooking meth. 

Originally posted by Rob K: It will be a cold winter for her if she becomes homeless....in Chicago it might be a no-rent period till it gets warm. cook county Sheriff will not show up if the temp drops below X etc due to local ordinances. eviction process in Chicago is a joke

Certainly groceries, cooking and laundry take up some of that.

When it came to price I was always told let the other party make the first offer.The young expert then told my wife & I that there was no way they would pay more than $75,000 :)This is something my Grandfather taught me at a young age (smart man, my Grandpa) the first person that says a number looses.

Glenn mentioned above that no lender would touch it and if the deal was thin, he is correct, but if it has some meat on it, you would have several options.

Tenant wants me to pay for family to stay in a hotel until repairs are complete because they can't do laundry or cook at home.

Is not having ACH something that you can get a discount for, no not likely.So, now to the meat and potato of your post.

Things went really well for me at my job over the next several years, and I had a series of great pay raises.

Any properties like these that I can afford would not be the ideal living situation for me at this point in my life.