Properties w/ settlement claims?

[William Huston]

I wanted to get some input from the masses on investing in properties with settlement claims, i have been keeping my eyes out on properties with multiple searches i setup on the MLS along with a few wholesale lead sources i have acquired, most of the wholesale deals are so skinny on profit that you'd have to do all the work to really make any extra income from the flip or fix and hold lately, but today i got a lead on a property in an area that is typically a 250-300k housing neighborhood, but there was a settlement claim on the property about 8 years back with repair documents to support the repair. They currently want about half its normal value to sell the property, but i have never purchased anything like this, so i wanted to get some input from the masses. The settlement seems to be local to the one property, i went and walked around the property since its vacant and talked to one of the neighbors and he mentioned that it happened right after they had an insane amount of raining and the retaining pond behind the property rose to nearly within a foot of the house foundation before it carved a path in the ground around the property due to the road being of lower elevation vs the house. He said lots of dirt carved away from the side of the house as it ran into the street, leaving a spot under the foundation that became hollow and eventually cracked before it was filled in, thus a settlement claim occurred..

Im looking at this property in 2 ways...

1) Currently i am looking for a new place to stay that is closer to my W2 job, which this property is about half that distance and time away and plenty of space for myself and possible house hack roommate. 

2) I could potentially purchase the house as a rental, the numbers seem to make sense, just unsure how its affected with the history of settlement claim on the property..