Now to throw a curve ball, what if the property runs off of solar energy?? 

I will attempt to negotiate a bit with him and I think he'll play some ball, but at the end of the day I'll write this off as a solid life lesson.

This is precisely the benefit of having a buyer's agent. 

Didn’t go with her lender but it was really convenient to get the ball rolling.

When deciding on your shot, a handy trick as a novice is to line up as if you are going to hit your target ball directly. 

My costs tend to be much lower than most given our volumes but it at least will give you a barometer.  5k on plumbing sheet rock and 15k as worst case on mold remediation as a sight unseen ball park and you are under 20k worst case.   

When the homeowner starts falling behind on his mortgage repayments, the bank charge them hefty penalties which over time add up and can erase any equity the owner has in the house.Unless you talk to the owner or the bank who holds the note, I don't think you can precisely know how they owner owes when they are  not current on their mortgage.

Use it as leverage.Do you know precisely how much time in NJ? 

At that point, I will get the ball rolling and will hire an attorney to handle it.

It'd be a different ball game if you put a down payment of 5% and rents went down by $300.