The town was built in the early 1900's and was a boom town through the 1990's.It is not that the town is lacking small businesses that want or able to lease these spaces, it is that it is a small town, and the businesses cannot spend thousands of dollars on rent, or renovations. 

I've been reading the information in here and finding it very valuable..moreso than spending hundreds of thousands on big name RE seminars.

If this doesn't work you could visit the area you're interested in and spend a little time there, set up some meetings with individuals you think could possible help.

But if I'm spending money to do it I would like to be protected.  

Still need to spend some time refining the processes a bit to make things smoother.

99% of the time, it's better to spend the $5k and finish it up.  

Then spend 6months educating yourself on one topic and don't get distracted by shiny balls.

I can't spend more than $45k on this after repairs.  

Dan:If you are absolutely certain you have a good prospect, save the foundation issue, then spend a few hundred dollars to have a structural engineer and foundation specialist assess the integrity of the structure, formulate a corrective plan and provide a budget cost estimate (add a buffer to these numbers).If it still looks like something profitable, and with which you are comfortable, afterwards then why not proceed.However, if this is your first dance with a structurally compromised structure, be very conservative in your analysis as there could be many "oh ooh" moments above the foundation.

Los Angeles is a wonderful place but if you're looking to spend $3M it still goes way further in Houston than it does in LA or NYC.