He could easily buy this as an INV property, throw a tenant in there for 1 year and then move when ready. 

and to be clear - no, there is no obvious / effortless / low risk way to put funds into something RE-related with no experience and easily beat savings or CD returns right now.lots of folks thought there was and got burned.getting in right now requires patience and money. 

I have easily spent over that for both properties.

The push-back has noted that stock market gains aren't realized until a stock is sold, and gains can easily and quickly be lost.But real estate is already taxed on unrealized gains.

The price paid was easily worth the work of showing the house and negotiating with other agents.

You can easily over-renovate or under-renovate.

are there any other types of maintenance / things that break more easily due to snow?

If your current floor was peel & stick, you could easily use a hair dryer to soften the adhesive of the damaged tiles, lift them up and drop in new replacement tiles.

The appraised value of the home when work is compleated would easily be above $650K.My husband is retired military and has his VA benefits.

Realtor cash deal easily done.