The saying goes don't be a penny wise but pound foolish.

So, stay cracked up, or whatever childish thing you said, and pound sand.My request just proved itself.

I can't imagine some ladies garden club wanting me charging out the door on my 20,000 pound diesel powered forklift to pick something off a truck.So here is my question, Real Estate agent seems kinda tight with the current owner.

The seller is almost certainly going to tell you to pound sand (unless they're really desperate, which would make me nervous as a buyer).

This “fixer” is $150-$200k, and you’re still going to end up with an undesirable property.

Good stuff, so now that you know what you want no you just got to get out there and start pounding the pavement to find those deals!

Pounding the pavement.

You will ruin your relationship with them and some cities have the ability to shut off your water service if you run afoul of their permit/zoning process and just tell them to pound sand. 

(This makes it undesirable to sue you since you have little equity) Once its paid off you might want to do it then.You could add an umbrella insurance policy if you want an other layer of protection.

It will just take 2-4 years of ownership before this fire sale will start, maybe sooner if they get screwed by an undesirable tenant or a few months of vacancy.