I had a bad tenant who left an incredible number of cigarette burns throughout the carpet and so much damage to walls that the place had to be repainted.

In the short-term they may feel better about themselves or do a deal here and there, but in the long run bridges are burned, money will be lost, and then it's on to the next endeavor to repeat the process.

I actually have two long standing violations: my firewood rack is visible from the street and I have an unpermitted covered, screened deck (something else the ex burned up our HELOC on).

Do investor generally use those search engine like zlliow or other similar to search for house and ask agent to submit buying ?

The market can tell you what's best at a point in time.Bottom line, get a commercial appraiser, an engineer and/or a commercial contractor/developer on board.

Also wondering about the flooring...looks like you did an engineered wood or laminate throughout.  

The building has also settled, so it has a slight but noticeable lean to it (the whole foundation settled together so there is very minimal cracking), an engineer has reported it's done settling; But i was planning on lifting/anchoring the building.

Friendship not worth burning over money. 

Currently working a full time job as a Logistics Engineer in Novi MI, and have an accounting degree from Central Michigan University.

I am in the final stages of finalizing my purchase of two homes on one parcel.I contact the Fiscal Office and they indicated I need an engineer/surveyor to start the process.Having no experience with this, does anyone have any recommendations/tips on this process?