When you submit your offer, make sure you have a due diligence period that gives you enough time to do these inspections.Once you get the property under contract, have the septic company do their inspection, have an engineer visit if necessary and get your property inspector out to do a full property inspection -- if he is concerned about a major plumbing issue or mold issue, you can get those specialty trades out to take a look and give you an estimate.If it turns out there is a bunch of extra work in these areas (or ANY areas) that you didn't expect, you go back to the seller and basically say, "Hey, there were hidden defects that I needed to bring in specialty contractors to evaluate, and here are the reports they provided. 

@David Smit"Where imposture, ignorance, and brutal cupidity, are the stock in trade of a small body of men, and one is described by these characteristics, all his fellows will recognise something belonging to themselves, and each will have a misgiving that the portrait is his own."

Some people invest in bitcoins (I would never) but this is my high risk investment.   

I’m well rounded in the trades and very handy so I’m interested in flipping and foreclosure-type stuff.

SF under 250k are like bitcoin; we have only what we have, no more supply is created.

Or trading advice if you need it!

I'm handy by trade, have worked for and been a general contractor and have all the tools for the job, whether it's my actual tools or connections for bigger projects or repairs.

What does matter is that you trade the note for cash. 

I may be going against the grain here.. but I'd look to find a really decent young carpenter/trades person that's just out of school and looking for work.

Can't speak for Zanesville exactly, but I invest in Circleville & Chillicothe, and Chillicothe is *about* the same distance from downtown Columbus.Personally, I wouldn't trade investing in this kind of area for anything.