I'm getting more photos tomorrow so we'll see if there's any more progress.Depending on how much you really want to protect your investment.. simply getting pictures on a drive by is not going to cut it.I would suggest you find a construction inspection company like the HML ers use we use and banks use.. normally about 50 to 100 an inspection.. so what you want is at demo phase they go through and check it out quickly and make sure you did not buy a complete wreck with a lot of structural defects that can easily be hidden.then from there once they do electrical and plumbing before they cover those us get it inspected..then have them come back after sheet rock and kitchen bathrooms etc.then once its done hire a normal home inspector to go through the whole house to make sure its up to code and everything is working.. the first inspectors just say yes there is plumbing and electrical the last inspector make sure its all to code your GFI's are in your hot water works etc etc.the other thing you want to do for SURE is get a sewer scope all those old houses unless its evident there is a new waste line the second someone moves in your probably going to find your sewer wont work right and it will be an emergency replacement and cost you 2X to 3X what it would cost if you fix it now..

IE bad tenant etc.but this is far more complex than that.And when you have owners who for a good length of time were receiving rent only to find out their homes were in fact vacant or had squatters in them.. that reeks of a Ponzi type situation.Also when you do your digging .. another critical element is that it appears through Morris or oceanpointe direction the title company used OP address as the return address for code violations etc.. so it was easy for them to sell vacant shells pay rent on them.. then pocket the code violations and the owners who never set foot or would set foot in Indy had no clue anything was wrong..

However, we did do enough due diligence and found out through code requirements several things needed to be completed before it can be licensed as a duplex with the city.

In many circumstances, an individual rental activity will not require 500 hours of participation, nor will the taxpayer have sufficient time available to spend 500 hours on each individual rental real estate activity.That's from:http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=146326,00.html Which is from:http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=146318,00.html

These are professionals with additional training and a stricter code of ethics.

You could pick some kind of list - all 4 bedroom houses in these 3 zip codes that the software thinks are vacant - and send them a postcard. 

Frankly I am surprised that they haven't been going crazy enforcing the laws already.I know people will say that they don't enforce the criminal code in the greater LA area, but that costs money.Enforcing STR laws could be a pretty big revenue stream and I expect they will catch on pretty quick.

Proximity to downtown Salt Lake City, reviewed property value and rental rate increases in zip code from last 5 years, turned the equity around quickly to obtain a HELOC and complete refresh work ourselves.

This is a hard money only deal- the exit strategy is to either scrape the lot and sell in 18 months or come up with the cash to rehab the house to meet current health and safety codes in 18 and then refinance.

Do you all have a particular resource, other than a CRE broker, that helps you find current and projected lease rates for multiple building classes per zip code?