You may not be able to touch his deposit unless he damages something or stops paying but if he agrees for you to keep a certain dollar amount, he won't have a leg to stand on.

Thanks Derek for the advice that's really helpful, and yes as soon as she told me I shared my condolences and did ask a little bit about the situation but I didn't want to dig down too much to the point where it may be too personal for her to talk about to a stranger.I definitely like the part of continuously following up with her and building a relationship, that makes sense and once she is ready to sell then I think I will have a leg up on others.So my next step is to find out the ARV of the property through comps and like you said try to figure out how much repair cost it needs then make an offer.

There are business consultant that do the leg work for you and find you the exact criteria you are looking for.  

Go to your image in the upper-right and open the drop-down menu then click on "Member Perks".

I am considering investing in Greenville SC upper state.

@tom oenter "morris invest" in the search box (click on magnifying glass on the upper right)

The next leg could be up or down.

I purchased this fixer upper for rental purposes only.

A friend of mine from Upper East Side bought a condo there and is getting a 9%+ cap rate. 

You better bank shop before you get too excited and get your ducks in a row .banks want to give loans out on 100k houses and have minimum requirements especially on fixer uppers in c class areas of the Midwest