Also uncovering the secret black box of mortgage lending could give you a giant leg up on the competition as an investor.You mentioned "no professional experience in real estate at all"...the beauty of real estate is that its totally fine (and expected) to be in this position starting out... and the barriers for entry are very low!

We haven't closed on any larger deals yet, but have had some luck uncovering potential ones through our network or by marketing to larger multiunit properties.

This will usually uncover some deals hidden in plain sight. 

It wouldn't hurt to dive in deeper to uncover as many expenses as you can.

Once it is uncovered and brightened, it will be a wonderful home.

Ditto if you can show that the seller's agent knew about the seller's deceit and ditto again if you can show that the home inspector could reasonably known that there was a wet basement and didn't uncover and report it.I think the seller would be in an especially weak position if he filled out a disclosure and did not reveal the issue.I'd start by documenting everything you can and then talk with a real estate attorney.BTW, the smell of a wet basement is pretty obvious. 

Uncover unknown issues (foundation issues): During purchase from wholesaler, it was disclosed that house has foundation issues and previous owner has repair it with life time warranty. 

Originally posted by @Michael Privman:Two words: Hot Stacks @Michael Privman You have uncovered my deepest fear: that there is something big  and important that I have left out of my analysis!!

None of that even begins to start addressing plumbing issues, structural issues, covered up defects, defects created by the flipper and a thousand other things anybody in the construction business continually uncovers on a daily basis dealing with homeowners when that homeowner calls in a professional to do some renovations and exposes all the criminal activity that flippers do in the name of their profits.Now I hate to generalize, and their may be exceptions in other parts of the country, but I have 10 years of personal experience witnessing this over and over again here in Denver.

Much like a home inspection, they try to uncover defects, minimize potential risk & use the info to inform the buyer.