What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Steel bath tub, cheap or more expensive kitchen cabinets, LVL or some other type of flooring, and anything I can do that will help me out in the future?  

Any passive losses you have no use for in that calendar year will carry over, so they can also be used in subsequent years.Keep in mind, some property types will garner more bonus depreciation than others.

To fix these types of things in some geographic areas may require fixing a lot of other less important things -- know the local building inspector's expectations.

@Ron S.These are the types of questions I will always refuse to answer.

Pretend they are title issues (another common type of issue that holds up closings).

Especially once you get a chance to build out a decent portfolio of these types.6 months is pretty standard as well, but it would REALLY benefit to be up front with loan amounts, leverage, and seasoning requirements.

Note that the minimum loan amounts for these types of loans are typically $75k-$100k which can be in issue in some areas of OH, maybe not the areas you mentioned though. 

That is not the type of tenant I want to work with!!

This type of situation is fairly common where I live and where the housing stock is older and especially because often family's built multiple homes next to each other and perhaps even on the same parcel.