Construction of new homes collapsed in the aftermath of that crisis and never recovered.

Ask of the paint is peeling.The combination of a potentially collapsed column and old termite damage should be looked into further. 

The inspector sent me pictures and sure enough MY HOUSE WAS BURNT DOWN AND LOOKED LIKE IT WAS ABOUT TO COLLAPSE.

Collapsed line will cost $10 k or more and no rental income during the repair, I don't know if your state requires you to put them up in hotels until the repair is made.

This market has effectively collapsed over the previous 12 to 18 months... price for fixerupper properties have dropped to lows not seen in a generation"My point is that real estate markets change.

There's no risk, assuming the US economy doesn't collapse in that time period (in which case, you have bigger financial issues).The scenario I described above is leverage.

I found a house I am interested in buying, and here are some facts:It is in a up and coming neighborhood but it has boarded up windows and collapsing fences, etc.According to the county tax assessor, the owners are five years behind on their property taxes.They have owned the property since 1977, purchased for about 12% of what I estimate the ARV would be today.According to Google, the owners seem to be in their late 70's and their son is a local real estate attorney.How do you recommend I approach the owners?

This means that there's the very real risk of a economic collapse, and as a foreigner owning property there would be additional risk for you. 3)  Corruption is a way of life in most of South America, Ecuador included. 

That being said, the Argentine government and economy is in full-blown collapse mode, so you might be able to find some amazing deals...

There just isn't much that could go wrong in that scenario unless you had some massive foundation shift that popped the waste line through the slab or it's hooked into a really old main that collapsed.