I had asked that I purchase the property vacant, because 1) I want to live upstairs 2) not only the leak and damage, but the tenant has a dog which goes directly against the lease 3) unit producing under market rent 4) I was worried about dealing with an eviction giving the tenant 30 days to vacate which would be the end of February (not ideal to move in February in Connecticut).

Real barn wood would be ideal if you can get it.I think Im watching too much "fixer upper" on hgtv !  

A group in Lufkin would be ideal as some are from Livingston, Lufkin, here and toward Henderson.

Odds are they also know contractors that you can get bids from but I'd also get at least one on my own.

I'll give you some specifics.Property: Building is 8855 Square Feet 3-5 Acres of land Ideal for a small manufacturing company. 

Not ideal, but a potential fix could be forming an LLC treated as a blocker "C" corporation, obtain the EIN, contribute the real property into the C corp, then sell using the C corp.  

Ideally I'd like to have the new home, existing home and keep the rental but that is too tied to one area and seems risky to me - so if a local downturn came it would affect jobs, rentals, home all together.

I deal Hood agency in Fairmont.

Actually, our ideal spot for buying a house this past year was the area between Middletown & Burkittsville... but we couldn't afford the house and acreage we wanted there, so headed 15 minutes west over the mountain.  

What would an ideal purchase price be here?