I re ran your criteria through our search and taking into consideration your requirements something like 6809 Prairie Flower Trl, Dallas, TX 75227 might better suit your needs and still have to potential for some equity. 

.- we planted a good amount of flower in the spring.

Wouldn't you say so @Mike Flowers ?

I understand that the shade is being cast by the seller.These are the thoughts and questions that my mind raises: Every time a weed gets watered, it grows stronger allowing it to choke the flowers around it.Are you rewarding and enabling his behavior by going through with the deal? 

All you need is one good candidate.Try to add some color to your exterior photos, even if it is silk flowers in a tub.   

@Geoffrey Flowers It all depends on where the lead is coming from.MLS - I will use an agent or on some properties I will go straight to the listing agent and make the offer through them declining representation.

In 6 months they broke 3 light fixtures - I had reports their kids were spraying a garden hose from the outside of the house into the kitchen, broke a large kitchen cabinet door, broke several plastic pieces of a new higher end Fridge, fist sized hole in the wall, carpet stains and the entire house may need another repaint, damaged woodwork, scratched kitchen cabinets, stole the curtain rods, curtains my wife spent a lot of time picking out stolen, destroyed the back yard - let the weeds grow several feet tall in the flower beds etc.  

Similar for the desert flowers in good years (last year was outstanding and this year looks like it could be outstanding). 

Paint and flowers are nice, but they may not cure the issues.Now, if you can pull it off, there are great possibilities and advantages, but it's not usually as easy as fixing houses, but it's a start. :)

What I look for is stuff like garbage bag windows, boarded up windows and doors, over-filled mailboxs, unkept garden/flower bed, tall grass and exterior house paint chipping away.When I've approached some of these houses, many of the home owners were nice people, have no problems with their finances and not looking to sell whatsoever.