Last week I closed on a rental property and we begin demo soon.

One of the challenges in nailing down a price per foot right now is two fold - everyone has a different idea of the "cost" to build - some will just include the hard number, others provide the all inclusive (demo to doorbell) soft and hard costs - everything excluding land, closing and financing costs.

That started the Demo on that same week, but he did not submit the permit until 2 weeks after.

She wanted to demo basement wall, dig out 500 sf of crawl space and put egress where concrete patio it. 

Demo expense can be $12k to $60k.Then hire an architect and get permits.

At a 98K price, we have determined it would not be profitable based on the fact that costs to remove lead, demo, level the ground, and build the duplex would be around 260K+.The seller bought the property as a burnout for 43K and we are considering negotiating on the sale price.

(I forgot to mention, their current house would have to eventually be demoed in a 2 or 3 house scenario because it sits dead in the middle and they would have to move away for a year while everything was happening).

Granted some houses are too far gone and should be demoed, but mold and other issues can be managed.

We made the mistake of demoing 2 trailers that had roofs caving in. 

The land is worth something and if you demo and find a nightmare you could abandon it without too much pain.