Half the houses have the porches crumbling off the front and needed to be repainted 20 years ago, half of them have work ongoing or have already been flipped and are looking super cute and turning into stable rentals.

Insurance policies are designed for sudden and accidential exposures,  they are not called maintenance policies... if this leak has been ongoing and you cannot point to a specific incident then it is a bit of an uphill battle.  

I am planning on going to the 3day workshop (but this is 2017 now) and was told that we are GUARANTEED, at the end of the training, to have access to funding up to $1M per deal, without using our own credit and 0 of our own money.

I won't tell the story here because it's still an ongoing matter but I filed a title insurance claim, a title lawyer started investigating the claim and they recently accepted the claim.

In this manner, you can see if they can check through the logs and see if there is a large number of incidents or any ongoing incidents.

Is there an option I should be considering outside a conventional sale that could be successful despite the ongoing issues?

@Sam Sciasciathere are no upfront fees or setup fees paid by a participant in a 401k.In a Solo 401k investing in RE  there are no  ongoing fees to manage the RE.

It's easy to obtain, costs very little, and doesn't require additional, on-going effort to maintain.

Aloha,Based on that age, you are due for a lot of work...waste and sewer lines, possibly supply lines ("some plumbing"is worrisome); potentially electrical panels and wiring if there has been ongoing water intrusion causing heavy corrosion of conduits and panels; roof; internal structure (termites, wood rot) exterior paint/siding; along with routine service call items.

.- Do you plan on going to the location and researching the area in person?