You said you have to live there for work, but what kind of job requires you to live in a certain city limits?

That kind of investment doesn't make any sense to me.

I started out after college in my early 20s as a single mother, waiting tables, making OK money for a 20 something, but not enough for any kind of RE purchase. 

Even if it is too late to do any kind of major planning, perhaps the attorney can see if your cousin could save some money using certain tactics (e.g.

Biggest things I'd look at is how is the foundation, what kind of wiring is existing, type of water supply lines etc.  

It is called "delayed financing" and it is very common.

@Aaron PetersonI moved your thread to the landlords forum.Snow removal ... it will be here before you know it ... .I've already put our RFQ as we were not happy with our service in one city last winter.In our experience, when it comes to landscaping/lawncare and snow removal, anytime you cannot define where one tenant's domain ends and another begins, the obligation falls to the landlord.If you have a side-by-side duplex or a row of townhouses where each tenant has their own drive and patch of green, you can hand-off snow removal and lawn care to the tenant ... though you are just as often better served to take care of it yourself and bake it into the rent.Anytime you have stacked units or a block (such as a small purposely built quadruplex), the parking and green space are common areas (just like stairwells in the interior) and fall to the landlord.

If it truly is a deal it will have plenty of room for this kind of fix - over estimating the cost of repairs is not a bad thing when deciding on purchase price. 

The seller financing with principal only payments and my purchase price opens up many more options for this kind of thing to possibly happen with the tenant and how much to get rid of at the property.

The asking price was 11K over appraisal, which seems to be common in fast rising areas, the comps can never keep up.