Always fix all water issues first before moving on to doing major repairs of a structural  nature.  

After a few too many midnight leak repairs, she wanted to offload it but didn’t want a big tax hit.

The catch is she is retired and won't have income except SS, thus I would be paying for everything...the HOA, repairs, utilities, insurance, etc.

Have you assessed how some of the repairs will be funded? 

Look into FHA 203(k) loans for repairs and down payment assistance programs in your area.

My gross income is a bit less than $7k (and I'm renting near top of market rates) with minimal repairs ($2k/y), but...1.

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.

If you think about the time it takes you to clean up and repair.

Will they have trouble making the payments to you while also having enough money to keep up with the maintenance and repairs/ tenant issues/ all the expenses involved with owning the property?

Are there any city or lender required repairs that will require an immediate injection of capital?