Oh I just discovered another thread that asked the same question.

Saw Michael's post just now where he discovered a guest had taken a small heater- which is really a bummer.

However, it might be difficult to discover houses with solid cash flow in high-appreciation areas.

After consulting my realtor I discovered the ARV would only be about $60,000 and that it was going to take about 10 years to get my money back and likely 10 years to get the value of the property up consistent with what I had put into it.

Did work get done in the past without a permit that they discovered?

That's a pretty big chunk of stuff to do and you'll probably have a million questions about things you discover while studying these things.Good Luck!

Look for a farm credit ("FCS") institution nearby.

I also discovered damage to the roof and had to replace that, plus I graded and graveled the driveway and parking area. $24,000 worth of improvements, $20,000 in lost rent. 

They may go unnoticed for years - even decades - but when they are discovered, the ending has always been inevitable.  

Now it's stable, and time to take out the hard money with long term institutional debt.