nice location, 1/2 mile from a well established town 30 min from the the capital raleigh. house going for 13k plus back taxes of 3k.built in 1901 remodeled in 1945, 879 sqf 1 bed 1 bath. needs total gut remodel and major system upgrade. the issue is they have tenets in the house now, family of four, dad cant work bc of heart conditions. unsure of moms employment. landlord says they have been paying rent, but I have no hard records of that.  

Death announcements?

No "smoking gun" that there are bed bugs -- but the spray cans are a pretty strong indicator.  

I dream of opening a bed and breakfast in Temecula!

I would suggest your wife's parents put the property in a trust, similar to what my parents did,, the land ownership is transferred into the name of the trust,, the parents have the right to manage how the trust is divided upon their deaths, your wife's share ( if other siblings are involved) would be stated as a percentage.. all operating costs are paid by the trust,, all income is paid into the trust the trust is a tool for them to use to as a financial plan for the future.

They celebrate paying off their outsized mortgage because for them it's a great life-changing accomplishment.They mourn when they have to leave the house that they spent so much of their lives in, like their cheap ticky-tacky tract-built place is an ancestral estate handed down from time immemorial and their lives are bound up with the soil it rests on.They fill their houses with just ungodly amounts of their crap, trying to own it more fully.They hire people to do the simplest jobs in their house because they're worried to death about structurally compromising the joint: "Oh no, if I replace this faucet and the faucet leaks there will be massive damage and a contractor will have to give me a quote and I'll have to file a claim with my insurance, and, and, and..."

You can get carried away with the agreement with clauses to cover death of members, managing members etc.. etc...The accountant may only charge a consulting fee of a few hundred.

If you are not a buy and hold investor, then it's definitely not for you, as you're right, eventually you will have a large tax bill, but it may not be a bad idea to simply hold a property that you've 1031ed into multiple times cash flowing until your death.

Most people would rather feel carpet when they get out of bed instead of the cold from vinyl or wood.

Not to mention, you're technically supposed to bed backer into thinset and then screw it down.