I'm going to be 31 next month.Here is my life in a nut shell:Middle School: Self employed "Strawberry Picker", woke up early every morning, had my mother drop me at the berry patch picked quart after quart of berries, took them home, washed them, and then sold them to the Senior Citizens in old age homes.

It's the seller saying "let me patch this up and if something goes wrong you own it now...bye-bye"If it's at the end of it's life cycle or heading that way a smart buyer will demand complete replacement.Showing that you have a new roof with proper drainage at the roof and taking water away from the house eases buyers minds about water infiltration.

There was one large, obvious patch in the ceiling that was ugly as sin.The outside of the home was OK.

If you decide to do a patch job and plan to own the home long term it's likely at some point you will be facing this problem again.

The kitchen has only bare walls (no appliances, cabinets, countertops), certain sections of the roof have been patched with felt paper instead of shingles (most likely the whole needs to be replaced), basement has limestone walls and is moist (I believe that water is leaking into it).

(needs a lot of floor work, re-carpet half of teh home, then kitchen need re-vinyled after we patch those holes, and we have to frame out a wall because he turned his 2/1 in to a 1/1!).

If you notice a significant number of houses that have aged or patched roofs, need painting/maintenance, more cars than parking spaces, cars that obviously aren't running, lots of weekday activity/presence of school/working aged males during school/work hours, low rent rates and recent sale prices are all indicators of decline.  

The tenant told me that the owner was aware of it and tried to patch it many times instead of just taking the tree out and repairing it as soon as it became a problem.

Minor repairs, patch holes, etc.. then a fresh coat of paint and he is usually done by the end of the next day.I try to stage supplies and contracts/handyman for the day after the tenant moves out.

(like leveling the floors, patching holes in walls, changing out the broken windows, painting and moderate Kitchen remodel, skip the permits on the remodel etc) .