We began cleaning and rehabbing immediately.

Misleading numbers are a waste of time for everyone involved.

He finds heirs usually are out of state, far away, and often uninterested to take over, so often, he buys at a good price.Now, this is a long game, your involved with the property for long periods, unlike a flip, where you come in, you find a buyer, you're gone.

I have been involved with self directed accounts in a number of ways.

The situations where land and/or vacant buildings were owned prior to 2018 are usually the most complicated and typically involve the a little more tax risk application of the OZ rules.

I would proceed very cautiously when zoning is involved. 

I deal with the monstrosity known as the NYC building of department as well as smaller municipalities like in my hometown of Yonkers and there is a wide variation on the time involved and what they require.

Multiple subcontractors would be involved. 

Sometimes it gets people off their bark-a-lounger and involved but many times people spend the money only to find out they need one on one help through a couple of transactions to have the knowledge and confidence to actually be successful.

I can buy a liveable, 2-bedroom, "Class C" house (no fancy, no frills, just clean, safe, and everything works) in my town for $14,000 "all in".