Beyond all of the great advice you received numerous members here have discussed strategies to have the seller finance part of the downpayment 

There are numerous clauses specified, and which they signed off on, regarding certain breeches that result in the loss of the deposit. 

I can see myself that there are numerous code violations, but from reading a post regarding intermittent power outages to certain outlets, it looks like I need to have the electric company come check their end.So, 1) would the electric company cause me and problems regarding the code violations,2) how can I use this to my advantage in the sales negotiations, and,3) I can do some of the interior writing, but what kind of bucks will I be looking at to replace the box?

I have purchased numerous short sales and had to bypass the commission on the deal each time or I used one of my agents in the office as the one representing me and they made the commission.

It's just a property they have available so I'm just doing my own research to see if it might be a good buy.I've read numerous posts on this forum as well as other articles touting the "up and coming" status of Phily, but I'm concerned about crime and some of the neighborhoods.

Might be worth it if you can get the place for a song.

All of our purchases have been MLS listings, so we could have found them on line at numerous websites, and that was how we started.  

The hidden costs are in the turnover, eviction, non-payment of rent, damage, numerous trips to the property, etc...   

That's what I'm told however, "affordable" has to be examined through the lens of variables too numerous to list in their entirety.

Quick question - did you do a numerical analysis of the property before purchasing to determine the cashflow you would receiving?