I have seen some houses that made my hair stand up, wow talk about scary lol).

I'm counting on some sort of financing for my first deal in the area.

Remember this could end up costing more than the comps to get this place repaired if things go way south of predictions.I presume that you don't have a lot experience with this sort of project.

Sort out your must haves, your nice to haves, and extras.

This sort of thing gives landlords a bad name.  

Plus we do our own work so for now the costs are greatly reduced.What I do, assuming less repair costs for now, is maintain a smaller repair fund, and sort of borrow that money for expansion.

Just wanted to get sort of a gut sense from other more seasoned investors what they would do.

That is probably best way for you to approach this all right now until you understand more about the asset class and are prepared to really structure this sort of enterprise properly.   

but I'd like some sort of checklist to use as a starting point for the rehab-intensive SFR I bought in cash a few months ago.

___________________________________I might start to look at other investment strategies while I sort out this potential deal.If I was able to get a 2% rule property for the same loan amount, my monthly rents would be more like $7000 instead of a measly $2400.