I'm going to be the Yang to @Theresa Harris' Ying.When you make any deal, you should have your exit strategy(ies) sketched out when the offer to purchase is submitted.  

If mom and pop tenants are paying above market rent because landlord did not want to give TI and they do not disclose sales with weak guarantee on the lease and sweetheart terms then it's a bad deal for us even if area has high demo's for income and population levels etc.

Since my original post, besides selling the duplex, I've added a killer off-market SFH deal in SW Boise with great tenants, demoed the structure from my auction property and it's almost ready with a new 3/2 mfd home on foundation with a custom carport in back, and am under contract for two townhouses out in Caldwell. 

See example below for one where a bathroom was added.to Get licensed in Dallas as a GC, you just go to the city and pay the fee, and then pull a permit to do demo and rehab. 

I took 250k pounds of crap to the dump and demo's the house.. they had all that sitting on 600k lot LOLI am now building two 1.2 million dollar homes on their junk pile.. 

I could demo the entire kitchen and eat take out for 2 weeks while I waited for the cabinets to arrive and get installed.

@Alex RodolitzYou dont sell them, you walk away...I see this all the time.. units burned up or some other crazy issue.. investors just leave them behind and stop paying taxes and everything....either the city will demo them in a few years or they will go to tax auction for the next investor to buy who doesnt do their due diligence..

We get in and start doing demo which went smooth.

This option does not require me to tear down the screen porch.The cost of removal is the cost of demoing the screen porch + $1500 + $4,000 if the soil is contaminated.

I turn power on when I buy and water on when demo is complete but before any Reno besides new plumbing such as valves etc.