You know of what you speak.

I don't know if it would have mattered or not, but a business partner and I bought a building that had once been converted from a home into an office space. I say we, but I really wasn't in on the negotiations. I just knew that the little hole in the wall we were renting without any cooling system wasn't working for me anymore, even if it's location was better than the one we would me moving to.

The building served us well for quite a few years, but after a while, it became apparent that it was starting to list to one side. This was after my partner had decided to leave (this wasn't the reason though). So I was left with the chore of figuring out what to do.

Fortunately, we had a very good year in 2010, so I decided it was now or never to try to renovate. So, basically, everything except for the kitchenette on both floors were torn down to the studs. Roof and shingles were replaced along with the gutters and the doors. Inside, all new everything, including electrical wiring. After it got fresh coats of paint inside and out, it turned out pretty good.

In order to solve the leaning problem, we had several piers put in that went down to the bedrock around the southwest corner of the building. They leveled it out and made it stronger than it was before.

That renovation and repair cost over $100,000 for a building that ended up appraising at $135,000. Then we sold it for $105,000 (at that point, after over two years on the market, we were just happy to get out of it).

So, I don't know what we would have done had we not initially bought the place, but with the money I eventually put into it, we could have at least had a good start on a new building and financed the rest or something. And potentially in a better location, too.