I will say, generally speaking, building new can be an annoying and cumbersome process if you're new to it.

...if you have hundreds of thousands or millions in reserve, it might not be an issue  ...but if you only have a few thousand, it will be a major problem.Now, having said all that, there definitely are scenarios where a structural issue is an easy, relatively cheap fix. ...and, there are some examples of settlement that can be ignored--for instance, minor settlement on a 100 year old house is fairly common, and might not affect the structural integrity of the house.But, again (assuming that you're not a structural engineer), you don't know what you don't know--it could be five hundred bucks and a weekend of work, or it could be a hundred thousand dollars, a year of your life, eight months of vacancy, and ultimately bankruptcy. 

May have a futon or pull out couch instead.For smaller rentals, such as yours,  I'd recommend a Kerurig coffee maker.

In this case this will be an unbelievable deal because I can cashflow it as a LTR.

Ben made some good points as well that these types of properties typical deal with higher maintenance rates and property management can be an issue.

Anybody interested in a quick phone call or meeting for coffee?

The roof, yeah it might be an issue, may make sense to replace.

As you hunt for property, if you are on orders and know you will be leaving that market in a few years, then this home purchase could be an awesome way to start building a rental portfolio.

Lastly my expectation is not for the VA to be an acquisition specialist and get the property under contract, however I would like for them to be able to gather as much information as possible (motivation, timeline, condition, asking price) and work on not being robotic on the phones.

There could potentially be an option for the heirs to assume the mortgage when the estate is settled.