@Lisa Caracciolo  If you are still shopping I would recommend looking in a lower crime area.  

Painted Garage floor and new hot water heater and garbage disposal.

When we looked at it again the appliances were gone and it had been painted.

So I've been shopping around for best rates with several lenders (Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank). 

Painted all interior and refinished the nice hard wood floors we discovered under the carpet.

Hit up local coffee shops (or find out if any exist!).

if I had something like this fall in my lap, and I knew it had not been shopped prior, I would contact several commercial RE brokers and see if I could get a finders fee to hook them up with the seller....   

After I have been in the house for awhile and started cleaning and painting is when I seem to find things I overlook on a walkthrough.

The city has tremendous growth potential and plenty of companies are moving in to set up shop.

But I would live in any area that give me the most money, and invest in short term rentals in that area, or with connecting with the short term shop and going into one of the markets they are in.the advice I’m giving myself on the daily is this: AGGRESSIVE PATIENCE.