However, they may be able to give you a rough idea of costs.If your inspector finds any major flaws, go get quotes before your inspection period ends. 

I'm curious as to what you're trying to uncover?

I have around 65k now and 0 debt to buy a property to house hack. My location currently North NJ prices here are too high and taxes makes this state worthless to me. I was thinking Philadelphia since its near by and a...

Try talking to a few brokers about your plans -- they'll tell you what they think and let you know if there's any flaws in your plans.

That’s definitely a possible outcome, I’m sure I’ll uncover plenty of problems once I start digging in.

This process absolutely has flaws, to name a few:1. it doesn't scale at all2. it only works in certain geographic markets3. it usually only works on cash flow houses leaving you out of appreciation gains (the real money maker in RE)4. it ONLY works when buying distressed properties.

Lo and behold, we've been told that Fannie Mae does not allow seller-financing, so we're back to the negotiating table unless one of you can correct some flawed assumptions!

It’s flawed thinking to assume that, because it’s close to a city and it’s low, it’ll go up (at least not in any term that will benefit you). 

Or get a Real Estate agent to take a look - they absolutely love to point out every flaw in a home...LOL. 

Not all, but very many of the deals being done are fundamentally flawed and will lose money, in which case you are trading losses of real dollars on a RE deal for savings on taxes.Be very careful to underwrite this appropriately.