The GC quotes are all over the place too so have to figure out whether its reflective of local supply and demand or a product of GC's knowledge that you will be doing all this from afar. 

TX las doesn't require a natural death in the house to be disclosed so it might be a stretch but I wouldn't leave any stones unturned on a home that has been sitting that long.

@Dan Hawker, You need to hold that property long enough to demonstrate that your intent in purchasing it was to hold for productive investment use (not simply to resell). 

The government and most people feel that's not as productive as giving them that 30-day notice.

Today he is actually a productive citizen and pays his bills but they did take his stuff back then at least once.

You'll get ventilation and filtration.Ductless doesn't provide ventilation.But it is much easier to retrofit.It depends on how much you want to put into it, and how nice you want the finished product to be.When you say "heat" do you mean propane, gas, oil or electric?

These will save you on lawyers fees until you get to a point where you'll want to invest in an attorney for lock-tite documents that create corporate veil protections.This is a great bundle which will help your knowledge on LLCs and Tax:https://store.nolo.com/products/nolos-start-and-run-an-llc-bundle-lopbun.htmlMost of these books should also be available at your local library if you want to save on paying for them :-)The biggest benefits in doing your LLC to start will be for tax purposes which a good CPA or tax planner can help you with.PM me and I'll share some docs that I have with you!

However they are exciting to do and the finished product is always worth it. 

This is a great forum with very knowledgeable members that will help to guide you in the right direction.There are some pretty nice discounts on many products and services offered as Perks to BP members that you might want to check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proI really like the alerts feature that can quickly guide you to current topics that may be of interest: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Today you cannot mix and match up product ins and outs, so no you can't refinance either.