Baseboard hot water heaters are very efficient and provide a warm moist heat as opposed to dry heat.

You should be able to do the repairs, then Dry It In (tarp over it maybe?

House will smell like vinegar for a couple days but as it dries the odor will leave.

Wells can have parts that break and they can even start to produce at very low levels and in some cases go dry.

@Troy Albers thanks for the positive story... finger crossed they are like that.

Or if a house already has dry wall that just needs a fresh coat of paint, that will be a lot cheaper than having to put new drywall in that will also require paint. 

After that you decide if you want the small town life in the Arctic (South Dakota or Alaska) the sun the beach and the humidity (Texas or Florida) or the dry heat of Nevada.

A well located and well run dry cleaner, convenience store, auto repair facility or juice bar can be a steady paying tenant for 20 years with rental increases covering the rate of inflation, or more.  

and infinitely more motivated that you could EVER target, AND I don't lift a finger to get them.

FOr example, two major players in the HML space have shut their doors completely, gone out of business, because the secondary market is as thirsty as it once was for these loans or their warehouse lines of credit dry up.