Patricia has this one 100% spot on.

Also call 3 additional references and ask how he was when he was working for them--any problems.The biggest boaster with the lowest (or sometimes the highest) bid doesn't always live up to what you desire.ALWAYS pre-check your contractors previous work before hiring them (a dog doesn't change his spots).And if you want to LEARN about painting here is a link to one of the most popular paint learning channels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Beyond @Tim Herman's spot-on advice, this old Victorian is going to cost a fortune to maintain.

Get ya'll input on how you go about spotting trends, specifically as it pertains to rental growth and short term (3-5 yrs) house price growthMuch respect and gratitude to all those that are trailblazing and giving back, I hope to join the ranks some day!

Doing this long-distance, we've had some rough spots but overall has been a win. 

Water is now getting into the crawl!

Black light test showed over 100 dog urine spots.

.- Dig around each of the 35 concrete columns and 13 wood columns in the crawl space and expose the existing footer.- Chip away existing insufficient footing to pier edge.- Install reinforced steel rebar into base of the column.- Pour new footer and reinforce with concrete and rebar per engineering report.- Backfill soil around each footer.- Dig around 7 exposed deck footers and reinforce, dig 2 feet and apply rebar, pour concrete and replace old footers.

Virginia Beach is also a huge vacation spot on the east coast and people pay thousands for vacation rentals every summer.

Last thing you want is to come home and find three cars taking up all the driveway parking spots.