The outside of the house looks well maintained and cared for, not in obvious distress. perhaps there are foundation issues, but it's block and beam so I'm not entirely sure how difficult that is to fix. it has window units but lists as having central air, possibly it's broken?

Originally posted by @Jordan Sitzler: Answers embedded below:So my questions:  do I need to do major repairs prior to selling the home such as lifting the post and beam foundation, or can I just shore up the posts underneath?  

; (8) population growth in target demographic; (9) foreclosure rates; (10) weather (the more extreme, the more costly maintenance will be- am I right?)

The guys had opened up the wall and put in a new beam and the city inspector came in and saw that and asked for the permit.

The experienced ones on here have probably experienced some of these; such as fire, mold, water leaks, moving beams around, furnaces, etc. 

I would laser focus you attention on one area, to cast a wide net like that its going to be hard unless you have crazy deep pockets.

@Denton Beam Welcome to the BiggerPockets Forums!!

There are brown or black specs on the beams of my crawl space, any idea what these are?

The listing says pier and beam construction, not slab. 

You will want to make sure that the beam above supporting the roof is in good condition as wellif you are trying to fix the columns using similar materials, you will want to make sure the existing block is structurally sound.