Renovate the property (would cost around $40k to do the major renovations such as getting the plumbing and electrical up to code, redo the siding of portion of the house (there's some rotting wood), install new cabinets and redo the bathroom, etc.2.

After you save up,  find a mentor and volunteer to help and learn the business, whichever path you are going.Also, not sure how handy you are, but learning basic electrical/plumbing/drywall/etc will pay for itself tenfold if you are going to be doing any renovations!   

The vacant side needs a complete overhaul, new plumbing and some electrical. 

Looking for some recommendations on good contractors in the area.Thank you!!

On a central AC, one of the most important tests to be sure your contractor performs is a micron test to ensure the moisture in the refrigerant lines is removed.

For your small rehabs how do you find as well as oversee contractors as well as dealing with local permits & laws?  

As for your property, I don't know how a deleading contractor can give you a quote without an inspection report. 

We usually do our construction without a general contractor and just GC it ourselves.   

If I do not desire the tenant or he does not want the increased rent I look for a new tenant for the rehabbed unit.  6) I move into the not rehabbed unit and start rehabbing it.  7) when I am done rehabbing it I refinance it pulling out hopefully all of my invested money (using contractors I usually get my down and part of my rehab cost but if you are doing much of the work yourself I think you may be able to get out all of your invested money 8) Use all that knowledge you have obtained to do it again with less mistakes trying for that homerun investment (I think most experienced So Cal RE investors have the Homerun deal: the type of deal you can potentially retire on).Here is also something you may not know: Commercial RE loans (5+ units) are more based on the numbers of the property than the numbers of the investor. 

There's no mention of the shut off anywhere in the report, all other plumbing components.