Alan I would google Ray Alcorn's article on performing due diligence on commercial properties (applies to residential as well) and investigate this deal (and all others) thoroughly.

He's gonna perform a load calculation, take a look at the support to see if it's exhibiting any stress and then tell you that it's been functioning for 113 years and will probably continue to function for years to come.

I would be willing to bet that if you worked with the tenants that want to stay you would be able to get in the unit with their cooperation and paint or perform some other improvements along with what you mentioned.

Then if it warrants I book an appointment to come out and see the house and will usually make a verbal offer based on my diligence to that point.I already have performed my comps, I already have a price range that the seller was willing to accept or even the least amount of cash they want, and now at my visit I have a good idea of my rehab costs.

Real Estate investing is a Team Sport and the most important thing I believe you can do is Network then do more Networking!

About a year ago I purchased a duplex penthouse apartment on a luxury golf estate near Mar Menor in Spain. Only after purchasing the property did I become aware of the fact that, as a non-EU resident, I have to pay...

We have a 60 day due dillegence period and plan on hiring a local property mananement company to perform an independent assessment of the property.

Very similar situation in that he began to resent performing physical work while I was "sitting behind a computer" even though this was what we agreed to (verbally, not in writing) and he wanted to start hiring out all the physical work.I would advise finding some other way to do the deal, like what Brian suggests.

Ask the specific questions to their references related to performance on quality, time and budget.

I know Regions bank loves to dump their REOs and non performing notes before the new year to cash buyers.Joe Gore