Not strategic. 

I recently acquired (not completely by choice) a rental which is next door to an uninhabitable house in a semi-rural area out-of-state.

If you hijack the GC built in profit then most of the time the  GC will have no choice but walk away.

You can add this to the marketing strategy.Why you can influence them to sell their house with Facebook and InstagramIf you're strategic with your marketing, you can show up on their Facebook and Instagram news feeds multiple times with multiple direct response messages and also interesting content (with retargeting and other strategies).When they see your brand and consume your content or see your offers, they become WARM leads because they know your business and they're starting to think about selling.Once they contact you to help them sell their house, or to ask you for an offer, they become HOT leads.Now, let me ask you 2 questions:1) Who do you prefer to contact and what's more time efficient?

If you are able to come up with the down payment for using the rest of your entitlement and your current home stay afloat, then that would be a solid choice.

Your choice...

The way I think, the Carolinas is the better choice.

She meets again with the CEO on Monday to really strategize out and make a decision. 

There are really two prices: the market value of the house, and the strategic marketing price of the house.You set the price where it will attract tours and offers, not necessarily where the "value" price might be.

The plan on investing in infrastructure isn't economic a choice as much is it based on deferred maintenance.