AUSTIN - Great ROT (Rule of Thumb).  :-)   Thanks !!

I'm not looking for anything super high end in terms of kitchen and baths, but more gutting, dry walling, plumbing, electrical work, etc. 

Two of the roommates are moving out. weve got one more roomate to find. the problem:the fourth room area will occasionally flood with ground water when there is a bad enough storm, about once or twice per year. like, last monday when i was showing the room to an optimistic, potential roommate (who then backed out of the deal, after seeing the water starting to puddle.)current roommate living there is a CHAMPION and smilingly puts up with it for the massive discount rent he pays while living this close to downtown dallas (<10m). the landlord:Knows about the flooding, we've told him via email (not certified mail, yet) and he did not do anything to solve the issue. there are also other issues in the house (like i said, old) like the gutters falling apart, balcony wood rotting, foundation issues, etc. he simply will not put in any money unless he has too. 

Apparently the studs can be rotting/termites behind it and that happens frequently.  

This one isn't as cut and dry but a inexperienced investor trying to start out with a risky huge project, generally makes us look harder at the deal.

The ways I see myself getting burned on this situation is if for some reason the rental market dried up and I couldn't rent any of my units.

However the air was dry, so I found that reassuring.The mold and moisture in the basement was not included in the provided disclosure.My realtor just told me that a contract was accepted on the place, 2 hrs after we looked at it.My thoughts:  Its a good price, and even at asking the cashflow works and provides a $250+ monthly income.  

LOL)anyway foreclosure were drying up then they got the idea of buy and hold low end apartments were the ticket..

They are saying money is good and buy the bigger house for themselves, nicer car, vacations etc. to show off to their friends.The cycle slows eventually and all that debt comes crushing down on them and the monthly commission falls as deals dry up.

Maybe they do buy 1 or 2 but then all of a sudden the funds dry up and they can't actually buy the volume that they said they could?