RecommendationGiven your goal of minimizing upfront costs while keeping control, here’s how you might proceed:Conduct a Thorough Title Search: Before committing, make sure there are no surprises in the title.

Husband and I are considering buying his parents' home and I have some questions about this and would love any feedback on how to minimize hassle and our costs.

The key is establishing routines and systems that minimize your day-to-day involvement.By using professionals, keeping investments simple, and managing your time efficiently, you can build your real estate portfolio while working full-time. 

I understand dead money but with high interest rates and putting minimal money down or re-fying leaving 80% LTV the margins on SFR's is extremely tight. 

You will also have the ability to refinance the new purchase easily with a delayed purchase refinance (You can price these as a rate and term refinance), if you plan on only refinancing the purchase price + cost of improvements. 

If the seller is still on the property after you close (you negotiated delayed possession), I wouldn't be opposed to doing exterior work (roof, landscaping, concrete, etc.), but I wouldn't do any interior work.

Modern farm house look.. take a look at my new builds paint jobs  www.ivyridgeestatescanby.com  also landscaping putting a couple tiny plants does not do it in my mind.. but I know out in the mid west etc landscaping is very minimal compared to what we offer here in the NW or what buyers expect. 

These factors minimize your risk and ensure that you have an investment, not just a rental. 

Or maybe they just want to sell it and not deal with the time delay in getting it fixed?

Honestly the high fees combined with lack of transparency and high appraisal costs, a whole month of UW (longer than normal), etc. would make me want to switch lenders right away because IME the lenders with high fees and high appraisal costs who drag their feet like this also tend to be the ones to continue delaying, have things get stuck in underwriting, say one thing while delivering another, have poor communication especially between UW and origination, bad customer service, can't close when they say they will, etc. and it can be a total nightmare.