For example: unknown liens, spouse not available, power of attorney, defective warranty Deeds est. all of this are killers BUT a good closer may know how to close your deal and work around these issues.

Many of the "defects" were things my own property has and I live with every day.

I assume you know that this means you will inherit all the defects on the property:All Mortgage Payments OwedAll Taxes OwedAll HOA Fees OwedAll Liens on the HouseLegal Fees (Probably Near Foreclosure)EtcGiven that she hasn't paid anything in 2.5 years, that could easily eat up all the equity you currently see in the deal.

@Sam Bagwell, just FYI, no Alabama title company will insure title without a quiet title order that is final and non-appealable AND they order up a copy of the court file to review and make sure there were no defects that robbed the court of jurisdiction. 

@Brian Burke   these are great points and look at the theme... your litigation has stemmed around buying an disposing of hold over tenants possessions or minor construction defects.

Not from New York, so the following is based on Ohio:Agents and sellers are only required to specifically disclose latent/hidden defects.  

It is not a hidden defect and isn't something so severe that upon looking at it I felt it needed to be repaired immediately.  

I prefer to do a walk through video of the homes I'm selling and point out the defects if there are any.

Looking back the realtor's story changed from "I talk to her weekly" to "I don't know about her personal life" Wouldn't this be considered a type of material defect as we certainly would have not bought the home if this information wasn't deliberately witheld.

Instead, you could just have a simple clause in the lease like mine: “Tenant shall be charged for repair of drain blockages or stoppages, unless caused by defective plumbing parts or tree roots invading sewer lines.”Then it’s pretty clear what you will and won’t pay for, and you don’t have to worry about trying to figure out what they shoved down the toilet that actually caused the clog (e.g. tampons, child’s toy, etc) because they’re responsible regardless.