@Tom Starlin From an strict investment perspective, these properties are dogs and all stars at the same time. 

Put this in a proposal then have a follow up conversation.

@Devin Borders - I can't speak to if there is a legal way to both assume/pay their mortgage and fully protect yourself, but I am sure there are others that can.One thought I had was if this property is off-market and ~$220K in value, I'd offer much less for the following reasons:  If you can do this without realtors (if it is not currently listed with one), that would save the sellers 6% in commissions (~$13k).  

Leslee, I can recommend the following folks in the Phoenix area;Inspector:Jim Petko, CPITitle:Lawyers TitleDebbie Fulleror call Debbie RogersGeneral Contractor:Fix-My-HouseI know you didn't ask for the other two, but just in case you don't have a repair person or a title person (two of the most important members of my team), I thought I'd throw them in too.

Following as well, I also just reached out to Marc, thanks all.

Even when rental property investing, you need to be thinking on a personal finance level as well- in this case, following the logic of an emergency fund. 

The better relationship you have with them (and that you follow through) the better things will go for you.  

They will entertain a 1/2 seller financing but I am unsure on how this works, I have been following a lot of bp and never really heard how it works when only a portion is seller financed. the other issue is how much the bank will require being that it is technically a business not just real estate property.

As a follow up to her question, is there anything that the newbie like me can do for you aside from providing capital? 

Follow up: So I paid the $700 appraisal fee, and it took about an additional month overall, but the actual appraisal came it at $370k.