The flip 5 , buy 1 strategy has allowed me to take my profits off the table while intentional growing my passive income stream and reducing my portfolio risk.

Getting deals to the closing table can be a challenge.

Assuming Illinois doesn't have state-specific forms that are different, look at paragraph 6 of the deed of trust that any owner occupant who got any 30YF Agency loan signed at any closing table within the last 5 years. 

can bring more drama to the table than is worth it.

It points to Table A6 where you have depreciation percentages for each year.

I have had great success with French Drains (google) I had a property in Ca and sometimes it rains furiously there and water would literally pour into the basement like someone turned a tap.

I just wanted to know what the seller has to bring with them to the closing table?

Unfortunately there isn't enough money on the table at this point to get that done.What they really need is one more interested party to compete against you... so they lower the price on the MLS to $129.9k simply in an attempt to generate that interest.

Should I instead bring a laywer to the table?  

., and (3) is valuable financially (i.e. more cash to the table, able to shoulder more debt, etc.).