Since upstairs and downstairs share the same stack frequently, I would suspect a blockage or even pipe collapse down below the lower tenant.

The best was we had to replace an ENTIRE wall of the original foundation...Which involved supporting the ENTIRE side of the house while we removed it...All was going well...Easy Breezy...Until our grader backfilled TOO SOON and COLLAPSED the wall WORSE than before!!

Occaisionally we do get caught out - had a retaining wall collapse last year which was 3-years ahead of our plans to replace it.When it comes to smaller items such as fixtures and appliances, we will typically replace them as they fail unless we are carrying out a significant renovation on the unit.

John,Remind your client what happen downtown Philadelphia with the collapse of that building that injured and killed a few people.

Anyway, maybe I'll go into detail about each collapsed deal in a different post. 

Also I didn't know anyother way.This was the most killer point in the entire thread:A common theme seems to be out of state investors buying cheap houses, doing $5,000 cosmetic "rehabs", renting them out, bragging about the positive cash flow for awhile and then BANG, a few months later they are back on BP, screaming bloody murder and complaining about the leaking roof that has caused a ceiling to collapse. and then we have Big @Ben Leybovich , piling on, pointing out the smeared lipstick on our $30k pigs, dancing on the dead carcass of the out of state investor, and "P r o b a b l y" wagging his "I told you so" finger at his computer screen, and grinning ear to ear as he pats himself on the back for being right again.  

When the buyer collapses you foreclose them out, keeping their million dollars and you can sell the property again and get another million from someone else. 

How long are you going to be out of the country--if it's only for a year or so, the market will probably still be collapsed down there and you could just buy when you're ready to return and avoid dealing with tenants, and still get a good deal.

Just because one or two major banks in Germany or France close, I don't think their respective economies will totally collapse (strictly reading your #2).

I just feel as though this house is too much for me and I'd like to at least try to make a couple thousand bucks on it if I can, rather than start messing with hugely expensive foundation repairs and move onto my next house having valuable lessons learned.It isn't like the floors are going to collapse or anything, so I'm hoping someone will appreciate the discounted price and otherwise nice condition of the home(large home, newer siding, windows, 1000sq ft garage, good neighborhood, new furnace system, new stainless appliances) and we can both benefit, so to speak, from my mistake of investing in this home.