I'm trying to frame what I'm up against in terms of cost, risk of mold, and level of effort.

When I go through the numbers it seems to be more profitable to buy a SFR for cash flow and appreciation without putting in effort into the property?  

Great to know that you have invested time and efforts in your education.

You could become an expert in a specific area, then duplicate the same effort in other areas.

The fact of the matter is that as long you can justify that your time, effort and savings realized by this project, as well as its impact on your bottom line then you are made whole.

She is making every effort, finally, to fix the gigantic mess so she doesn't lose her Golden Ticket.

However with some repairs and a fully occupied building it would probably be worth 2x what 50% note value would cost.Underwriting distressed debt takes a lot of time and effort, I would rank UPB, cost of foreclosure, time to foreclose and recourse vs non-recourse as most important things to take a look at first.

There are no short cuts - - it takes a lot of time and effort to learn the basics.

Since things are stuck in legal limbo you haven't seen a lot of effort devoted to investing $75k+/offering with this regime to date.  

You already have some experience and with additional effort, will quickly climb the REI ladder to its pinnacle.