A great book on this topic is "Work Less, Live More" by Robert Clyatt.My biggest fear is rising health care cost.  

If yo I have your health & a solid income you have live better than 99% of the people in the world.

Jerry,Thanks for letting me know this is a Health Insurance plan.  

The house is already paid off and they are preparing to sell the house.I don't have enough money saved for a downpayment right now, and my credit is average (I've been using credit a little more over the last year investing in launching my online health biz + in educating myself about real estate investing).So.... here are some initial thoughts I had: - see if my dad (as the executer of the estate) would hold the note, and I could make monthly payments to him as if he were the bank - then when the time is right, refinance and pay him/the estate for the house- ask if he'd lend me some money for a downpayment or co-sign on a mortgage so I could take over ownership of the property, and then pay him back over timeAny other thoughts / advice would be much appreciated!

People can go on about  mold and lead and other health hazard but those are manageable over time.  

Lenders are tightening their standards but doing their best to uphold guidelines that are good for lending and the future financial health of homeowners and investors alike.

Unless your state has some weird law, preventing you from proceeding with eviction, due to health issues.

If there are health or safety code violations you might be better looking into FHA 203k or the several conventional rehab loans that can give you $20000 or more to fix it to code. 

Insurance - ValuePenguin, Metro Property Taxes - LendingTreeEconomic health - A good indicator of economic health is a rising median household income.

Interest rates are up now and your financial health will play into the kind of offers you receive who wants to lend to you.I will say start from here.Best of luck to you!