Used half of that cash to rebuild the front facade and the other half for a new investment.

On the exterior this presents itself visibly as cracks in the foundation(brick facade or cement underpinning, for example). 

The Dalles is certainly a town with some changing building facades. 

The home was in terrible condition (interior hoarding) but he also ran into some additional costs he wasn't bargaining for, ie the front brick facade was cracking so he had to replace with siding (not a large area) and this month he had to replace the entire septic system.  

There are so many people that have all sorts of schemes but its just a facade. 

Unfortunately, most handyman don’t know how to properly treat roof/facade leaks.

Some other indicators for me are dirty or missing pieces of siding or facade, lots of tenant belongings in the yard and the quality of the property management company, if you'e familiar with the options in the area.

@Jesse Park Also, it is very common here to have a thin masonite type facade fascia over a 2x subfascia board.

At least with those there is some facade of oversight, but Enron taught us even that is not foolproof."

A hose test is more appropriate for facades; not roofs (unless testing parapets).