These houses are uninhabitable at the moment.

When you have a moment you would be so kind as to check your in box.

Though interest rates at the moment are high, the absolute smartest move for you will be to continue to use reasonable leverage to continue to purchase more and more properties over, as you say, the next ten years.  

I'm not looking to JV, and I know services like Investorlift are great, but that's not in the budget at the moment.

Every waking moment, no joke. 0 time off, no TV, no hanging out, just eat, sleep, work, on THIS, repeat. 

You can have all the resources and knowledge you need but the moment you crush the limiting beliefs, the pathway to success opens.

There's lots of uncertainty at the moment. 

@Allan Kapoor, when I bought my first property my defining mental moment is when I decided that I didn't care if I lost money!

That is his opinion, for that moment in time. 

Owe 5 years of back taxes and are at risk of the city taking the property at any moment.