Please share your opinions/experiences.There are too many unknown variables here.

@Mack Benson Interesting point about the unknown aspect of this upcoming winter, with both the overall market and impact of coronavirus and the election if any.

He's been able to achieve some really fantastic things with multifamily investing in a largely unknown Ohio city.Best of luck.

It is possible to have repairs as low as $20k if an unknown plumbing and apparant multiple roof leak issues were easily overcome.

Sometimes the owner is unknown because no one is sure if the bank owns it or not and the bank seems not to be in a rush.

There are still many unknowns in this scenario so instead of wasting time getting advice from folks here who don't have a dog in the hunt and who haven't seen actual evidence of your position, you should seek the advice of competent counsel so you know where you stand from a legal perspective. 

Just do itIn other words, just pre-advertise the property before you while you have it in contract.The first deal can be unnerving and you are unsure whether you can rent it, get good tenants, get the rent checks on time, have unknown contingency repairs etc etc etc.

I'll not mention his name but he is on BiggerPockets.One fact unknown by most realtors, or at least I believe so, is that their errors and omissions insurance does not cover their own deals as an investor. 

The seller didn't have the time to wait to see if an unknown buyer would be able to close on time.

As you have mentioned, I agree that 5% returns is not worth the unknown risks.