Mainly I just don't want to deal with the hassle of pets causing excessive wear and tear over time. 

Our internal guideline - If we don't plan on gut rehabbing (tearing down any walls, updating the electric, plumbing....) our contractor gets what's called an Easy Permit. 

I could go in and tear the numbers apart.

.#7 any bids lower then above are ploys to tear the house up and come back with revised "found this problem" and higher rehab cost scope changes.

The way I try to do it is I figure that if the project really go wrong, worst case I'll still break even (short of having to tear the house down).  

I have a team who will tear down and rebuild on the property.

That involves tearing up the street which is a state highway, in my case.

As an option to avoid a long drawn out foreclosure process (Pennsylvania is a mortgage state and will require a judicial foreclosure), you might be able to negotiate a deal with your delinquent borrower to hand you the keys by signing a Deed-in-Lieu in return for perhaps tearing up the note.

Didn't even bother to tear out the concrete...we just isolated the affected area and ran new lines through the house to by-pass the break, and then abandoned the below-grade pipes.

Any time you tear down a house or have a vacant parcel or you are expanding outside the loophole parameters (slope review, cantilevered expansions, sight blocking, etc) you need to go through coastal.