If i am sure that I will go the Rent strategy, I would spend a bit more to put in more durable finishes such as tile flooring potentially higher grade countertops and casework, etc, compared to flipping.

Find some comparable properties to index your rental against.

While to be Boston proper you are looking at some areas that are $1000/square feet you can find a lot of value in some metro areas such as Roslindale - 2 family with 5/6 beds can go for 5-600k in fair to good condition and that’s a nice middle ground location.

Suggest you go the electric route--less or  no maintenance costs, and when repair is needed, inexpensive compared to most gas fired boilers or furnaces.I would also have a small natural gas wall space heater installed somewhere on the main living floor (not in bedrooms) just in case of power outage and / or for supplemental heating.  

KDP Septic based in Phillipsburg is excellent, they put in a complicated 50K system for us in East Amwell Township in the dead of winter this year (high water table on property so needed pump up leech field system, ground was frozen, they have all the heavy equipment needed for something like this).

The properties have market value which can be determined by reviewing recent comparable sales.

There was only one or two companies that did this sort of work on residential tanks and their prices reflected that it was not a giant tank in the ground running a shell station. 

The potential partners I have been talking too also like the diversification of holding less stocks and the stability of real estate prices, at least in our are, compared to stocks also. 

Then take next best highest and use tenant and figure out rent per sq ft they could pay.You could possibly sell the land to an end user tenant, sell the land to a developer and make a spread, ground lease the land, or do a NN or NNN lease and construct the building.You need to analyze the tax implications of selling outright and paying higher short term gains capital tax versus developing and then converting to a new value created loan of 65 to 75% LTV.

Its in the Old Colorado City (some compare it to the next Denver or Portland with the "hipster"/millennial influx) with unobstructed views of the mountain range and Pikes Peak, which really drive up cost here.