So far, it seems like about 4-6 foreclosures in that area, but I haven't done a complete check-up.

You have some kind of functional or geographic obsolescence/feature that is turning buyers away.  

Once complete I got all my money back but 650 bucks, that was for appraisal.

Assuming that you’re not in the more rural parts of the county,  you are likely to be met with quite a bit of opposition if you attempt to erect a wind turbine large enough to supply energy for the whole home.As for the self-sustaining generator -I am no physicist, so I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that a completely self sustaining generator is theoretically impossible under the current laws of physics. 

floors that are currently completely covered with old wall to wall carpet that we'll rip up once reno is done.

As an exit you don't have to sell the property you can still refi once work is complete and rent out the property 

Ideally when complete you have a property with zero money into it and a tenant (or multiple short term tenants) helping pay your mortgage.  

I recommend the later regardless as you'll then be able to judge how complete each vendors offering is compared to the data actually available.Unfortunately, while we are working to expand to your area, we have not yet done this analysis for GA.

It's truly like going back in time and the current town officials were completely unaware of all of this LOL as the old officials are now long gone and nobody was the wiser.  

My estimate is back of the napkin and could be completely off.