If it's owned by you, which is the case with the IRA then you are fine.

This is fine because I can bring everything up to code and get the work done cheap.I don't imagine that the previous owner would ever come back but I want to be on the safe side. 

We will use hard money for the loan (the interest and points are fine for us), but I'm concerned about a few things:1.

This part is fine and straightforward.

Fine.

The tenant may be fine with you doing that but don't. 

But I loved the quality of building materials in many of these old homes and expect them to be there in 2114 and doing just fine, provided the planet is still here.

Welcome to BP @Ashish Mehta  Don't worry about when the market will roll, remember in RE you make money when you buy so as long as the numbers make sense and there is cash flow on real estate rent numbers than you will be fine.

The hope is that everything just says fine or good when I'm done... it never does :)Ex: bad kitchen = "replace" under kitchen in my notes = no picture neededEx: ???

I could pay off around 3/4ths of my existing mortgage, but the investment seems to be doing fine the way it is.