Grapevines destroyed, roses dead, broken glass in the windows, a wall knocked out of a metal shed.There was no sign of life, the extra family living in a travel trailer is gone, and there was a large flatbed trailer in the drive filled with ruined carpet, broken furniture, and garbage.

One came with commercial units which have held up especially well and have attracted the family types.

It may need to be rebuilt.....if that is the case I might suggest you consider a zero clearence insert with new metal chimney pipe that you can box in with a wood frame.

Another way to save/make money is to seperate your trash , I pull out all metal and keep a pile at my shop , lawn mowers , washers and dryers ANYTHING metal .

You tidbit about increasing gang activity in Oak Lawn really gives me pause and though I did not mention it in my original post I am partial to the Northern suburbs because they are closer to me and are generally held as being more stable/prosperous.

Otherwise you can be at the mercy of a lender saying pay the entire amount off or apply all the sale proceeds.I know, LOL.There are no tax implications with cross collateralization, excluding any use of qualified assets held in any tax qualified retirement plan restricting comingling of funds.

Some of our holds have been held for decades through up and down markets.

You can always negotiate a holdover attorney escrow for 30 or 60 days at closing for if things pop up that the seller said weren't true you can get the escrow money as damages from sellers specified proceeds that were held back at closing.Sellers will say anything to get a place sold and feel they have no further obligation once it closes.You might have recourse against the seller in this situation.

The deposit is being held at my title company.

I used metal R-Panel which is commonly used for roofing and metal buildings.