They may want to gamble on someone else not knowing the 20 year old HVAC, but as you mentioned, it's going to come up during the inspection.  

Fortunately, the calculated gamble had paid off.

I don't see huge upsides as there is only a few years left in the up swing and after transaction costs, it's not that fruitful to buy now and hold for another 5 years or so.Also, I'm in earthquake country and insurance is a gamble at best as they may deny a claim.

Being a middleman- Realtor, contractor, ect -and get paid off the "investors" gambling. 

Important to note: This was a big gamble but a very calculated risk.

A gamble.

My experience is with UK CF platforms.

You made some mistakes when you moved in by not protecting yourself, is it worth your time effort and expense or would you be better off simply accepting lesson learned.Many landlord will gamble the tenant will decide it is not worth the battle and those landlords are usually right.

To spend equivalently in the UK, it appears we'd do well to get one unit for the same outlay i.e. $950 for a $150,000 spend equivalent in £, rather than $2950.

I have a property in Ireland in mind and have asked if the sellers will carry, but could also do a private money loan from the US or UK, and as it will be operated as a business (rental) would be open to a JV as well.