We were both bouncing ideas back and forth on ways to make my situation work.So the ARV absolutely got their attention. 

Commercial loans care about your net worth and if the property can service itself (DSCR).

Maybe your favorite Sunday brunch restaurant is in Zainesville so you’d be ok going with the family every other week to have a nice meal and then take care of any things the tenants need.

The parents of the seller clearly took excellent care of the property, however, there has been a lot of drug traffic in the past few months.

Keep distant .You tell them you’ll honor the lease and you expect them to care for your property .

If the owner doesn't care enough to find keys and grant access, you might do your best to estimate rehab costs and explain that when you make an offer (assuming a low offer).

Lenders are going to primarily care about how this type of property cash flows. 

But, just be very careful in this space, as I am sure you would be.  

However, it has come to my attention that the deed for the property in the county records shows $700,000, not $800,000 as the sales price.

Im sure you could... but might be as much work as doing it yourself though I have seen 3 story row houses have the bricks re-pointed with scaffolding and you could always rent a cherry picker truck... if it was on the first floor would the cracks be something you would just have the regular maintance guy take care of?