You've pretty much nailed it.

Doing this would cost you only property taxes, and you can recover the property taxes you've paid as a reasonable and necessary expense of preserving the property,  if one of the sons should suddenly show up and make a claim to the property.   

Shooting their nail guns everywhere and thru everything, sheetrock, whatever.

I invest in real estate because there are more ways to grow your money and preserve it from inflation/taxes1) Cash Flow2) Principal Paydown 3) Tax Benefits 4) AppreciationIt depends on your goals, but a lot of younger/newer investors focus on a flat rate monthly cash flow when they should be trying to grow their equity first, then they can start to transition to flat annual returns when 7-8% of their capital invested is enough to cover their monthly expenses.

They provide labor only quotes and will provide a list of materials (lumber, nails, joist hangers, etc) that you need to buy for them to start the job.

A 10x Napping preservation stage investor would never bother with the skinny delta of borrowing from Peter to lend to Paul. 

I thought about replying but @Jeff Copeland hit the nail on the head.

Phillip nailed it.

Luckily there is no historical preservation ordinance on this lot.I guess my first question is, how do you know you should go forward and purchase a lot that you can SLS?  

The search led me to the US and looking at the mid-west, etc, where cashflows are better and the entry points are betterInterested in multifamily properties (targeting $500k or less, which led me to OHIO as one of the states)I've always been a yeild / cashflow guy, so my priorities will be capital preservation with cashflow (and a bit of appreciation woudl be nice).