I politely explained that we rehab houses not just buy them cheap to let them deteriorate!

When the real estate is no longer serving it's intended purpose of being a home for the owner, if vacant, it's just a liability and a deteriorating asset to most people. 

Sometimes on old houses the mortar can start to deteriorate and would need to be fixed, but if you don't see any crumbling or missing mortar, probably all is good.

There are also a lot of absentee landlords who cause deterioration to the neighborhoods over there, so the city can give you a hassle if your property falls into tier 2 or 3.  

Sometimes these houses sit for years on the books of some bank that doesn't even know the value of the asset they hold (in fact, they've never even seen the house, just bought a package of liens that the house was part of), they get sold multiple times to other banks, it can be a very twisted trail...eventually the bank holding the property will decide to liquidate it and it will go to county auction or end up as an REO property, often by that time the property has sat empty for years and deteriorated, which can work in your favor since you can make lowball offers on these distressed properties that no one else wants.

How will you structure the deal in preparation for the time when her health deteriorates to the point she can no longer live in the home.

In the central valley we really do not have any harsh weather condition deteriorating the properties, except for sun.This might not sound like a sound plan for everyone but I personally like sfr's, condos and duplexes. 

The only problem is that he cant see to sell it, because the market has deteriorated, and it is in a rural area.

Thank you all.Now is there anyone out there familiar with auction.com that can give some advice to a someone with a winning bid, a deteriorated roof, tenants with no info and a where is as is clause?

The leading candidate for my ward, Heather Rhoades, is particularly vehement on wanting to crack down on landlords who have been avoiding spending money in the city and lowering property values by letting properties deteriorate.