There has been a lot of suggestions here of various technology solutions, most of which would seem to rely on electricity and possibly a battery for backup.A generator is an expensive option, and you may be relying on the tenant to get it running.

To get better coverage, we put on one of our buildings, then we put a post away from the buildings towards the back.If the battery (lasts about 3 years) runs out, you get a call.

Kilz Complete is a high VOC oil-based primer, Penetrol comes in at a much higher the VOC content, and paint thinner is almost pure VOCs, so if you plan on doing a significantly amount of oil-based painting indoors, you need the aforementioned half-face respirator fitted with organic vapor cartridges.If you want to replace pieces of trim, as Karen S. suggested, you may need to invest in a 1/2 in. router and a router table to make new boards match old boards.

Is it purely an investment, or do you utilize the property occasionally?

in our market here in Oregon its a cottage industry running around and trying to buy redemption rights.. and the folks that do it are doing it purely to shake down those who bid at sale and don't understand how the rights work.or the bigger players will only bid on deals they own the rights to ... there is a 6 month right of redemption.. and the sales are uber competitive.. so the chance that it goes for a number that another investor who may own the redemption rights to  would redeem is remote.. and even if they do they owe you 9% interest.. and any cost you may have fronted to keep the property from getting damaged.. however if you jump in and rehab it you would lose those dollars.the redemption buyers buy the rights by getting the property deeded to them.. usually for 100 to 500 bucks sometimes more if there is massive equity .... and they usually record the deep a day or two before the sale.. then go the sale and see if someone buys it.. then walk up to them waive their deed and try to negotiate to sell the rights.. usually 5 to 10k.. because with the rights you can start your project right away with out them you need to wait 6 months... so it become the cost of money and time equation.and as an aside generally there are 100 sales posted and only 5 to 10 actually go... but it sounds like this one might go if there are no heirs to throw it into BK or they are working on a loan mod of some sort.good luck with it.

Is it purely based on what rates they provide or is investor friendly?

Purely tax neutral viewpoint.  

What makes a self-directed IRA custodian different is that they are not purely connected to the public exchanges and limited to investing in stocks, bonds and funds, but rather have the staff training and paperwork to document the IRA's investment in the more individualized transactions that occur when investing in real estate, notes and other non-traditional assets.

I've done the analysis, comparing the cash out refinance vs. a lower monthly payment, and we would need to earn an avg annual return of 7% or more over the next five years on the invested cash out funds ($40k) for it to make sense from a purely dollars/net worth aspect. 

It is hard work pure and simple and most people are not willing to put in the effort.