I have an opportunity to purchase this home from a family frIend that has it now as a vacant rental and doesnt want the headache as hOUSE NEEDS EXTENSIVE RENOVATIONS.

How are you going to afford the back taxes and renovation so it turns into a cash-flowing property?

Once you get over a certain amount of capital it becomes hard to effectively allocate it.If you don't run into that with 1mil, you will as you keep progressing.I think you owe it to the family to speak honestly to that.That's the reason most large institutional investors have a hard time in the SFH world and focus on larger, lower cap rate investments.

Can I use that warranty for the repairs/renovations of electrical, plumbing, and hvac repairs needed?

I work in renovation sales: primarily kitchen and bathroom renovations, so I meet with many individuals who are looking to put their home up for sale in the near future.From my understanding, there is no such thing as a 100% ROI for remodeling. 

I will be back in Atlanta next week, it will be nice to meet and discuss a few renovation projects.

The larger the holdback and penalty the more motivation the seller will have to vacate.

In the 30310 and the 30311, where I do most of my work, the prices of good renovations are fairing quite fine. 

Sure there are buy and build strategies (I.e. renovating, fixing up, flipping, etc) but that is active work and frankly I haven’t build an eye for that yet and think there’s more risk.I can take an example of a triplex property in Bridgeport CT I was looking at (and I have many many more) Purchase price of $225k.

Should I keep looking for something larger?