Rescuing a 'tear down' property 29th & Alder

I'm a UO grad, 1978 but moved away for 35 years for employment opportunities. I returned in July 2016 at age 65 going on social security with life savings below $200,000. I got the cheapest house on Zillow for $125,000, listed as a tear-down.

There are two structures here, 500sf each. I got permits and restored the front house and converted the other building for residential occupancy (roofs, new walls, new electric, sewer work, etc.) The total cost of materials and some labor was around $15,000. I'm very happy here and my expenses are about half of my SS. I got two houses for $70,000 each. And now provide housing to another person in the front house, a person with no money. It involved some work but nothing special. I'm a retired office worker. One of the key enablers was, I had cash- Mortgages are not available for such run-down properties. I videod my story at https://www.youtube.com/c/ToddBoyle/playlists see "House Rebuild".