Sounds like you're on the right path. 

My husband just went down in our tenants basement to replace the smoke detector and discovered water marks from a very obvious recent flooded basement.

Sounds like a lot of head ache for one property.

Discuss ideas with your finances Dad and grandpa by all means, but assuming they’re older and sounds like they have a lot of cash from a business sale, super specific advice from them likely won’t apply to you.That’s like asking someone who starting buying rentals in SF in 2008 what you should do for buying rentals in Rockford IL in 2018.

A beater and pb&j will go a long way and save what sounds like a great investment! 

@Kai Van Leuven developers developers developers developers developers.I have no idea what people are doing in the city of Seattle w.r.t. rental property, but it feels like every house that isn't an owner residence is immediately bulldozed and replaced with a mcmansion.

But only you can answer what your time/effort is worth and the risk of spending the extra money only to get the same appraisal.It sounds like the bigger additional cost are the extras that THIS bank is requiring you to pay upfront.

Does that sound about right?

@Alexander Schwartz Sounds like an interesting property LOL!

Also, do I need a special kind of baseboard for replacing them?