I'm not sure how your county tax office works, but in Dallas values are broken down by land value & value of improvements. 

Some sprucing up with some paint, along with a very thorough dejunking and cleaning might be all that's needed to get a sale.Even if some major improvments would draw a higher sales price the cost of those improvements can easily exceed the added value. 

My hope is to improve the value of the property over time as an on site landlord as well as gradually increase the rent to increase cash flow potential.

I'm getting better but there's always room for improvement.

You have not done any improvements or repairs to the property from the way it sounds.

Ahh, the fun situations we all run into while trying to honestly improve a neighborhood and, make earned money for your work and creativity and at time save a degrading house that helps turn in into a home - don't worry, it happens to us all at times. 

Best of luck over the next year making the improvements and getting the rents up!

I'm very passionate about the revitalization efforts and serve on various committees dedicated to improving the artistic community, accessibility, tourism of the downtown.

Did you possibly get an "improvement location certificate" or survey when you purchased?  

This is a new private loan set up through a broker that the borrower took out to pay off an existing tax lien and was supposedly going to use the rest of the funds to make improvements to the property.