Without knowing the size of the house and what the mechanical conditions are, I would bet you're looking at $100k in repairs.

This would be easier because you can use mechanical means to strip it.  

Some cities require mechanical contractors (plumbing, HVAC, electrical) to pull an additional permit under the master permit.

In general, for legal purposes (like banking), you must use your own name unless you have an LLC, DBA, Trust or other mechanism.

You have to have both a buyer and a seller that are both willing and able to close in order to create a transaction, and price and terms are the market mechanisms for equalizing supply and demand to create transactions across a market of buyers and sellers ... inefficiencies can occur when there are distortions in the market that limit the number of buyers or sellers or otherwise creates an inequality between buyers and sellers that cannot be easily resolved by the usual market mechanisms of price and terms.Inefficiencies can have a dark side, as eluded to in comments above ... if an inefficiency is artificially created so that a more sophisticated operator can rip off a less sophisticated, weaker, and/or desperate person, that may be profitable and even legal, but can also be morally appalling IMO ... this never gets discussed in polite conversation here on BP but think it is important to understand.

The way I see it my risk is very low as the mechanicals are all there and my largest risk is bad tenants.

All of them have pluses and minuses and there's no one mechanism that is perfect.

Could be a diamond in the rough - or it is what it is, a wind-swept farm town where mechanization killed the labor pool.  

At the time I was looking for something to hold for 5-7 years so as long as the mechanics and roof was solid I was gonna jump on it but I got turned down on financing by three companies.

I'm looking for a 1 man show or small shop that can complete all the drawings (demo, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and structural).