I have a kind of an odd questions for fellow landlords or if anyone is in the insurance side.Last year when Irma hit South Florida, I suffered quite a bit of damages on a number of my rental.A particular one is a multi family building - I had fence damages, tree branch fell on roof, poked a hole through the roof, through the ceiling, debris everywhere inside, outside...so I filed a claim to my windstorm insurance carrier.I was lucky that the apartment the branch went through, was vacant at the time. 

i was going to cover it with vinyl soffit, but i saw some other houses near me that had a stained tongue and groove  porch ceiling . 

As noted you will want a full inspection done on the following: roof, sewer lines (scoped by a licensed specialist), lead paint check (specialist), test for asbestos if you have popcorn ceilings.

Interior, half the walls and ceilings are missing (lots of drywall). 

Are the ceilings one color, are the walls another color and the trim another color?

Of course they choose to paint the bedroom, and ceiling, black.

Is there any room to add value to justify an increase in rents, or do the recent updates pretty much cover rehab and rents are at the ceiling of FMR?

In our latest purchase, these toilets rocked until the ceilings below were damaged and the flooring rotted.

Common examples are sloped ceilings that aren't high enough, basement areas that, open porches, etc.Bottom line, if you're going to convert a property, you'll need to get floor plans.If you have more specific questions I'm happy to help you out.

However, Pasadena is full of older houses that need some modern amenities and features, like higher ceilings, smooth ceilings, new flooring, double pane windows, modern appliances, modern paint colors, etc.