I am a bit lost on the best way, obviously it is a longer term strategy and has an element of "appreciation play" to it...

Play the roll of a tenant, and call them up.  

I also think you are elephant hunting with a .22, not a BB gun, but still under powered for the size of the project to start off with if you don't have RE experience, and that too can make investors gun shy.

There are two factors at play here. 

Does that mean they'll be on the hook for the bill or it's attached to the home anyways so if that bill goes unpaid, the home is at risk of losing power if not paid?

I'm not particularly enamored with the idea of not having a lease agreement in place, even if its a month-to-month lease, so am wondering how this would play out.Thanks in advance!

Still looks like it could make for a great deal but with historic buildings there are many things that come into play that you normally wouldn't encounter.  

Your biggest investors will have the negotiating power, however you can try something like this:Pari-passu: 0-8%, 90lp /10gp First promote: 8-16%, 75lp /25gp Second promote: 16%+, 60lp /40gp Hope this helps.

French banks dont finance US properties, it's a french company that plays an intermediate part between us banks and the borrower.

That could play into whether or not the lien will be wiped out in the event of a Debtor's bankruptcy.