Thanks for your response @Austin Youmans I have confidence that there are no safety or health issues (lol one of our first tasks was bagging the leaves and even some dirt between our house and the little old lady next door due to MOTHBALLS and the awful eye burning smell they put off...it seems she had the notion that mothballs scared off snakes - and since  the property had sat empty for several years there were LOTS of mothballs (both whole and partially deteriorated) - but thankfully they are gone and I would know  - turns out I'm very sensitive  to them.  

@Joshua Wilson When I started out, I burned through a dozen realtors that either wouldn't get back with me after a showing or were generally no help at all.

Cassidy Burns Keep your security deposits in a separate bank account and dont commingle with other funds, period.

"I tried and it didn't work, I got burned, it's over," say those types.  

There is still money to be made in other ways though and you just need to price in the risk well to avoid getting burned.  

And if they all burned down or got washed away by a flood together, that's also a separate deductible for each one.It sounds like you already have the insurance figured out, but just wanted to throw that out there if you hadn't run into it. 

Now this is based on my experience and I certainly could have done things better, but I've found that you have to start somewhere and you're likely going to get burned a few times as you figure out which contractors work and which don't.Network with other successful rehabbers in your area. 

I also now want to ensure you have the property insured since we are in contract, I'm spending money for inspections, appraisal and mortgage fees, if the place burns down, I'm out money, so show me the insurance.....og, BTW, I also want the option to go ahead with the deal if it does burn down between now and then and be entitled to any insurance proceeds.

I don't know the conditions that exist with that property, I mentioned staring with the motivations and needs of the seller, not your burning desire to own a property, can that hill even be approached at the speed you desire?

Our lesson was to finally develop a complete checklist to use, and it saved tons for us over the years especially in the due diligence phase.How did it turn into a pot of gold, well after it burned we checked the zoning and found out it had be rezoned years before to light industrial and the business behind the property needed to expand.