I've seen a number of Pro Formas in my short time researching and investing in real estate so these concepts weren't necessarily NEW, but it was a good closer look at the structure of a proforma, and the formulas that make up the many aspects of a pro forma, and what they translate to... what they tell you about a particular investment exactly.

They're great motivators and they use sales and marketing tactics for tapping into the hope and fear people who desperately want to 'alter their lives.'

Using a layman's translation from the tax law jargon, here're those 3 key tests:You work 500 hours on the project orYou do pretty much everything yourself orYou work 100 hours on the project, and nobody else works more hours than you do on this same projectEach project that you want to include into the REP status must pass one of these three tests (or one of the remaining four tests that are even more difficult to pass.) 

Tenant has altered the house without permission (including but not limited to removing all smoke alarms). 

You guys probably don't think about it this way but by contributing here you are saving lives by keeping people like me from making 30 and 15 years destructive and life-altering commitments.

And If the property can be rehabbed without a Major expense (Cesspool)  I would look into altering the ingress egress to allow greater ease of getting in and out of the property, and then rehab it and lease it out to a commercial tenant. 

I would say most SFH in my area (I'd guess we run cheaper than in your area) are 400-500 depending on difficulty and size, so if I try to translate that into 8 units, it seems reasonable, if not cheap?

Translation = a dog that wouldn't make you any money.

Refinanced it again alter on at over $3m, used that extra cash to buy another big property -- rinse wash repeat.   

I would also find out if the husband changed the locks as that constitutes a lease violation for altering the property in addition to what Jon stated.