I couldn't even get a word in to tell him what it was (he sounded like he really didn't know,  but saw that it was some " bs papers").

What was he talking about? 

It's all about the multiple little things that can add up to big things that affect the cash flow.If a seller has substantial equity in the property and they do not want to hold a second that can often times be very telling that they want to wash their hands of the property.

We also need to do something with the steps, possibly carpet them.Other stuffI purchased an ozone generator to mitigate the smoke smell and washed all the walls with TSP twice.

A good bleach scrub, pressure wash and stain or seal the deck will take care of the problem.

That might wash off, you have better control of tenants when you are there.

I had a change of clothes and washed up but still stunk like gas fumes for the closing.

Since capex is not linear, ie it costs the same roof (roughly) on a 50k house as a 500k house, you have more opportunities to wash out cost estimate screws ups on the 500k house. 

Once inside I could barely see anything as she had no lights on or bulbs and the windows were covered with black sheets, what strick me immediately though was the washing machine in center of the living room with no drainage, water was just running out on the wooden floor, the place was hot and stinky, she had no furniture of note just clothe in the corner of every room, the bathroom sink was stained with purple dye which was the color of her hair.

So while they can use the divorce excuse to wash away the bankruptcy, you can't do that now with the eviction.