Finally I found a friend from high school, who is a reputable builder, he hired a structural engineer, removed the concrete and reconstructed the interior support beams.

Since the seller hasn't differentiated this property's income from his other properties, and hasn't kept a detailed rent roll, I've asked to see copies of all current and previous leases to try to reconstruct some kind of occupancy timeline.

Friends in Ithaca recently added an accessory dwelling unit when reconstructing the garage at their SFR in Ithaca and the process has taken well over a year navigating the city bureaucracy - with a couple of construction starts and stops because neighbors complained (spuriously) to the code office. 

Hi Bill,Brain surgery is riskier for a Heart Surgeon than it is for a Brain Surgeon.As Tony Soprano would say; "Capiche?"

I just wouldn't want to own a building that is that old and has had that much reconstruction to convert to nine little units.

I just graduated from fellowship and will start working as a vascular surgeon in August in Louisiana.

So I'm like a kid who's dad was a heart surgeon so he thinks he can do a double bypass.

I had 3 teams of two door knock every NOD in the 4 county area.We only door knocked one week before they were going to lose the property.. and the best deals were 2 to 3 days before.. this is motivated folks. before that they are still waiting for their rich uncle to bail them out.and folks in our market will receive no less than 100 to 150 direct mail piece during the process.with many saying the exact same thing.. does not take a brain surgeon to realize the letters are not unique  LOLMost folks could not compete with us.. as we could redeem day before many times.  

Dang @Calvin Thomas, this IS a pickle.As far as the money goes, I would be inclined to forego the legal pursuit and put the $50-75k (or lets say $75k since legal fees are rarely less than they can be) towards the $110k in re-construction costs. 

When I visited a week ago, it seemed like there was a lot of rehab/reconstruction going on, but still many older homes that have yet to be turned.