.- inbound links are like votes for your website- the more important a website that is linking to you the better- website are more important if the have a higher page rank- page rank is a measure which google calculates using inbound links- the fewer links are on a page the more important the individual link- reciprocal links are worth less than one way links- content is king- do your research as to the keywords you want to be found on- track your ranking with a program like advancedwebrankings- write articles on the topic of your expertise and distribute through content providers online- attend a lot of online forums on SEO, learn from the experts, learn what to believe and what not- do it, the first success will energize your effortsAs I said, any question I am happy to try to answer.

I definitely agree with your point about properties which are not fitting our ideal model and I have been thinking about this.

We migrated to a more efficient HVAC system as part of the retrofit, but actually ran of the older system during the course of the retrofit.Other similar houses in the neighbourhood have average annual energy consumption 80 - 120% greater than this house.We just acquired another near identical house one block away and I am presently modelling a retrofit plan that, once finished, should see the average annual energy consumption be in the range of 30 - 50kW/m^2.  

I can't offer personal expertise on a specific contract, but when I have purchase/contract specific questions I've found the best resources are my real estate agent and attorney. 

Taking your grandfathers understanding and gut instinct on what a good property is and a good model to determine return on investment and you will have a competitive advantage over many other real estate investors.

Late model, shinny, clean, no big dents or missing headlight, is fine.    

The key to commercial analysis is modeling the current and future (potential) leases.

I'm considering training a VA with a background in real estate and finance to underwrite deals for me (or at least fill out the majority of the financial model).

While I think that's a business model people have played with (selling "turn key" STRs with bookings and everything), it's certainly not common and in your case, I wouldn't pay a dime for them.  

@Jim K. thanks for the thoughtful answer. i'm with you most of the way. your model seems based primarily on cash flow, except for where you say "reassess this number every five years based on the performance of the property and the amount of debt left..." how is debt/equity factoring into your model?