Connect with a housing coordinator if that position is available in your area and stay in contact with that person. 

I would be very interested in the person’s contact information that does Pad split in this geographical area. :)

We are entering the prime buying season - find other local investors and get their interest.With that said, there are a couple things that are unclear from your post. - The as is appraisal was for 275K,yet you are now expecting that it would be a reach to sell for 220K.

If the fireplace is just in a spare area of the property, I’d leave it as a decorative feature to enhance the cozy vibe.

I reach out just to help as I'm a local agent/investor here in the area; and my focus is primarily on investment properties with my clients.

In the area I lived the properties were too expensive (Watsonville CA) so I began doing farther searches out of my area.

  /   Usually rent to section 8 or screen carefully.The first mistake the turnkey purchasers make are buying these properties at full retail price (or more). 

There are a lot of really good people in the Memphis real estate community, and plenty of people will help.  

I doubt you will have to do this, but some areas of the country are nutsy...

They rehab and flip to a lot of CA investors from what I know, but also big PM in the area.