I encourage you to do the process as it is easy and will save you a good chunk of change. 

Take pictures of everything before you gut, save all materials. 

Safe Credit Union, US Bank, El Dorado Savings, Golden Pacific Bank.

So again not worth it.If you were simply buying a property for at least $45k you'd probably have some decent savings.

The market here is relatively expensive, we both have pretty good jobs, but would like to avoid using our entire savings to get this off the ground. 

I don't think moving from PA to Ohio to save one year is worth the time or effort.

The market here is relatively expensive, we both have pretty good jobs, but would like to avoid using our entire savings to get this off the ground.

That's a span of time you can't even fathom at your age.2)  BUILD a SOLID FINANCIAL FOUNDATIONGet your credit score to >700 (there's a ton of info on how to build your credit anywhere on BP or Google)Obtain or continue earning W-2 income (this becomes important when you want to obtain a mortgage down the line)Pay down any bad (consumer) debt and don't pile on any additional bad debt.Start saving.

@Matthew CopelandTax Liens and Crowd Funding are pretty much the best options for a smaller account.Most investors will work within the standard financial services space to grow their savings and then switch to a self-directed account once they have the type of funding necessary to participate in more significant non-traditional assets such as real estate and notes.

We are hoping the building will save up for its own repairs and updates as we move forward.We are going to retain the current tenants at least until next summer, then slowly start increasing rent until they leave.