Hey @Arjan Amiri,I don't have a crystal ball, but there are two cycles that I follow: the seasonal cycle and the overall economic cycle.

Low balling repair cost, and in general just pushing garbage onto potential buyers.

@Jabbar Thomas  when you low ball you always run the risk of someone coming in right behind you and snagging the deal...

2) Do you happen to have a ball park idea of what it costs to have a house inspected and Lead Certificate issued (pending there is no lead abatement required)?

Hello @Jeffery Ball and welcome to BP.

I've made the decision to invest this fall (regardless of what I choose), or at least start the ball rolling and I think I may find a lot of great guidance here. 

If you belong to a real estate group where these people are then they might give you a ball park figure for free. 

Giving that it's next to 2 vacant properties and is in a B area of rent value (Imo) anyway the property's has reduced to 30k and it's still on the market I was considering making a low ball offer of 15-18k  .

Hey Mark Douglas congratulations on your second property and keeping the ball rolling.

Having processes and procedures in place to deal with the various curve balls that you encounter are essential.