If you're just looking for someone to take look at the property for feasibility and an estimate I can do that easy enough.

@Rod Jones We've been down that road once and ended up walking away - the building had just the wrong amount of damage: too much for it to be viable for us to rebuild and not enough for the Vendor's insurance to declare it a complete loss.

I would assume that I should show a loss with no income for 2013.

Perhaps if you can get your market research and it's feasible to rent at the same price the house down the block is renting for your looking at a possible $300-500 cash flow opportunity.Just brainstorming.

I'd rather take a little loss on the front end than have the house sit vacant.

What works for me in any "up or down" real estate market, are what I call "life events": ...death, disability, childbirth, health issues, domestic issues, divorce, loss of job, relocation because of employment, retirement, legal problems, back taxes and many others, ...are all "life events" that can "motivate a seller" into selling their real estate!

I am kind of loss here.

Because the structure is unfinished and uninhabitable, it is feasible that the land will appraise for more than the structure.

Many of them would be happy to give you not only a referral but also a general estimate of the cost and feasibility of what you are trying to accomplish.

I could rent out the one side for 1100... so already I'm at a loss.