That said, we had a good idea about what we were getting into.We wanted to rent to students in the area so getting it rented took some time because we needed to align with the semesters.

If your house was built in "pick a year" and the shutoff valves don't align with 2015 cabinets and vanities...

Abou, welcome to BP.Personally, I think you should get to as many events as you can to meet people, since you never know if that one missing component of a deal is solved by the next person you meet. 

I am thinking one component of it could be an addendum to the note. 

He traded that for a water well drilling business later on, and soon added a Remodeling and Victorian Restoration component, a Heating and Air component and a Plumbing component.  

The only way asking price factors into the equation is to give me insight as to how closely the sellers expectations are aligned with reality.You are right, we make our money when we buy (we get paid when we sell).  

Some component of the property may be old but that doesn't necessarily mean automatic replacement. 

We were able to salvage furnaces flooded with tidal salt water by rinsing them but only because the electrical components were not flooded, if they had been the prognosis for the furnaces would be different. you might want to towel off appliances and other metal items rather then wait for them to dry to manage rusting.FEMA  recommended removing sheet rock and insulation at least 6 inches above the flood line but for other wall coverings like paneling we used to just dry it out. probably not FEMA approved but seemed to work fine.

He took the company to court and successfully argued that requiring a high school diploma is not a key component to performing that particular job. 

You can probably find components and assemble your own system as need be.