I have a soft spot for the historical properties, but from a business standpoint, it may not be the most logical thing.

You can have crime zones and depressed areas with low median income scattered about without being in your sweet spot.

Check with your local kitchen/granite spots before you pull the trigger though.

If it's a large project and those are the only two spots the painter might be capable of fixing them. 

You're asking for a lawsuit IF somehow the seller or closing attorney doesn't find out about the stop work orders before closing.It's a bad spot to be in, but there is no sense in digging yourself deeper in the hole by trying to cover up your mistakes and screw somebody else over

I would just stay away from the dated patterns of granite (eg condo grade spotted tiger type pattern) and go for uniform color with very faint marbling to mimic quartz.

., great idea about keeping my eyes open and being ready to move quickly when I spot a great deal.

What Ted said is spot on.

Our first unit was on a flatter section of property with a minimal crawl space and was built for about $85 sq/ft with hardwood floors/granite tops and stainless appliances.  

The crawl space is literally about 2' - 3' high, so I'm sure that won't be fun.