Especially the days when you discover that big capex like a roof being blow off (happened 2 years ago), some tweakers climbed up on the roof and gutted the A/C (did two of those in the last 12 months), an evap cooler leaked for so long that the drywall on the ceiling of the kids bedroom caved in (last year), the hot water heater blew a hose and a major leak went unnoticed for 10 hours flooding the hall, kitchen and living room (dealing with that now), the tenant smelled gas outside, the gas company came and shut off the gas because the underground pipe is corroded AND also discovered that the water heater is not venting properly so it got red tagged (just dealt with that last month) or the time the tenant "invited" a homeless guy over, he moved in, then called his other homeless buddy up and he parked his crappy RV with his entire family living in it in the driveway.

I consider it to be one of the single biggest red flags in a potential customer.

(After all, it has been three months and the market is red hot and appreciating, and they are owed $200k and counting on the mortgage!).

I mean red ink saying " hey I loved the dress you were wearing after you came out of the shower...OK OK OK.. maybe that is a leeeel bit exaggerated.. but my point remains.Just say what you need to say.

OTH if you took that 250K and made some bold Reit moves 10 years ago you would be sitting on well over 1 mil liquid and paying 60k annually in dividends today.

Refinance into a conventional mortgage (Variable down, Interest rates up to 10%, harder to qualify for, lots of red tape) for a percentage of the ARV, the difference between the total cost for the HML and the dollar amount that percentage represents is what you get back in cash.

Just like a bad tenant who raises red flags, you want to deal with those immediately before things progressively get worse.

I've never bought a house before, and i've never had an income to be able to be picky about my living situation, so i really have no idea what amenities to look for, and even worse, no idea what large ticket items to look for. obviously roof, foundation, electrical, plumbing - but what indicators of those can i actually inspect on my own and be able to see if this house has any major red flags? 

It doesn't seem like you're in a position to shop, so just something to keep in mind for future reference.Also, when you're talking about a 30-year fixed loan, if one lender tells you they can do something that several others said they cannot...it's a huge red flag.  

@David Dachtera  first course of action is to simply and I say very simply.. go to the county or city .. talk with the planning department.. and make sure the lots were recorded as final plats.. and are legal lots of record. just because utls are in does not mean the plat was recorded.then see if there are any other red flags.. then go to public works ask the same questions.then go to the building department and make sure they don't have them flagged.