Most independent landlords are negligent at best wrt keeping on top of their assets.

Bare with me on this one, it came out a little longer than I expected :-)A little while ago I had a chance to talk with someone that works for one of the leading software companies that provides Property Management Software for multifamily properties.They have reports and industry trends they pull and he was part of that group back in 2007-2010According to him the rents took a very negligible dip in the overall picture however many markets actually saw an increase in rents and occupancy rates. 

So taxes are unlikely to be a concern since the heirs' basis and the selling price are usually very close to the same number.However, if the owner died more than 6 months ago AND the property has appreciated considerably since then, then there may be a tax issue the heirs would want/need to negotiate around.The Estate Tax only comes into play for very large estates and, if this estate is subject to that, then your $20,000 difference in asking price is negligible to the overall value and estate tax paid out.So essentially, if you're counting on them really needing to do some tax planning on this, you might be barking up the wrong tree.

Haha - I've never heard of a structural warranty.I'm an engineer and have done some professional engineering in the structural field.My work is solid and non-negligent however I don't know what that even means - ie: a structural warranty.Maybe some more specific questions would help you to feel more comfy about the decision to purchase:Soil quality / hardness etc. 

To the best of my knowledge, a plaintiff needs to prove negligence on part of the defender and unless you were notified of a problem and neglected to fix it, it is hard to prove.

Hiring an unlicensed/uninsured contractor makes for an easy argument of negligence against a rehabber -- that will pierce the corporate veil (i.e., your business won't protect you) and create bad-will from a judge and jury.

I'd have to do something pretty egregiously negligent for a court to find I had over $4 million worth of liability.

BUT - Having all of the above scenarios in place may not protect you from your negligence.

An extra $10 is negligible if they don't want to move for another reason.

So your insurance company will probably not offer you liability protection due to negligence.