Depending on the amount of work that needs to be done, you will likely have to engage a Civil engineer to help with city approvals.

I personally don't call It investing though.I agree with you Jay.A smart engineer from my office calculated that someone who makes $200K/yr or makes $100/hour - it's actually costly for that person to buy a single family home that he rents just to make a $200/month cashflow. 

We have had an engineer come out to open up the walls and estimate costs.

Much like the lawn service, I sourced out the pool cleaning and maintenance (hate to have the pump burn out) AND I added them into the rent as part of the perk of living in the house.

@John Mocker the board just had a meeting, the president went forward with having Servpro to dry out the units (4 total) and told the owners the association would pay to have the engineered laminate flooring replaced.

Especially if the building has been sitting empty, unheated and {partially} exposed to the elements.If this is your first fire-damaged property, then you need to budget to have the structure and foundation inspected - not by a normal building inspector, but by an engineer and/or foundation specialist.  

If that doesn't come through (I'm on mobile) search mass Ibanez foreclosureOn your choice of engine.

I have a copy of the deed but the trustee listed can not be found on search engines or anywhere it doesn't show alive or dead.The grass is kept cut and clean.

Going to speak to a civil engineer today to determine exactly what we can build on the property so I can get an accurate calculation of the cost of the build.

Purchase price: $264,000 Cash invested: $30,000 This project burned down about 2 years before we bought it.