I'm sure the nerbors appreciated your improvements. 

In 2014, Elgin completed the Central Business District Streetscape Improvement Project and the Riverside Drive Promenade.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets I highly recommend a Profile Picture! 

I suggest putting in at least 4 inches to cap your building and improve energy consumption, At the time of the tear off coordinate renting a blown insulation machine too and you can add insulation from the roof into the attic/crawl space above the ceiling level to avoid interior repairs.

It will need improvements to get a renter, but I'm not sure how much (or how little) I could get away with.

You normally do some renovation to the property to improve the value.

Real estate is transferred, and identified, by the Land legal description (along with all the improvements on it), so as long as the lot description is correct, it should be a simple correction.

I looked online and come to find out there actually was an online source but its saying that I have to make a profile to access these probates, wills etc.

There may be private money out there for longer term loans, but you would likely pay a much higher interest rate.You can improve your credit score by huge amounts in about 6 months.

Work on improving your current holdings so you can increase the rent and just wait.