There are a few ways to tackle this:  if you can cheat out some space, it is relatively easy to run hot/cold lines. 

On Monday you have 3 water heaters lined up for employees .$500 material and $500 labor each Plumbers get paid $30 an hour in this scenario .Instead of doing 3 jobs that day .

At this point in time, I would rather bet on a rental bounce locally (not necessarily in the city) based on a post-covid recovery, rather than perpetual shrinking cap rates in those hot out-of-state markets (given that cap rates here are potentially equal or better than those other markets atm, and we may be headed into a higher interest rate environment).That's not to say other markets won't make people money.

Basically my grandparents owned a home in a very hot neighborhood.

The house is in an hot/great up coming neighborhood. 

You can spend 10-35k on just water proofing and water mitigation.

Does the rent include any utilities like water that might increase?

Just find a good agent and stay on top of the market, even when it's hot.

For those of you that are not familiar- digging a well can effectively eliminate your water bill.

One that fulfills one of Maslow's basic needs (food, water, shelter) or one that doesn't?