Scott The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbookDownload BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10.

You don't want to estimate repairs at 20k when they are really 30k.

Scott The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbookDownload BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10.

Scott The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbookConsider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

One unit is vacant at the moment, looking to take estimates at the soonest starting the week after closing 3-7th of March.

I was would pay him a small fee to go look at any property that I had found and give his opinion of the house, repair estimate, the area and also send me pictures of that property.

Before you proceed any further, I definitely recommend getting 2 or 3 licensed general contractors to come out and look at the issues with you, and get some estimates on costs so you'll know what you're getting into.

My suggestion is to get a boiler service guy (probably a smaller company)  out and get an estimate of what it will cost to repair the boiler so she has heat.. you don't need it working like new just want it to heat..Then you can make more decisions...OK My knowledge on boilers is not great but basically you have a oil or gas burner, a pump and pump motor,  piping and zone valves, and pressure gauge.... so, thermostat calls for heat then boiler fires up and tries to heat water .... then temp of water high enough to heat with.... then pump kicks on to circulate water to and from boiler...      

Scott The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbookHouse Flipping resourceshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/09/28/best-biggerpockets-house-flipping/Step by Step Guide to Flippinghttp://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/01/07/flipping-houses/Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10.

That doesn't work for me because I am spending a lot of time looking at homes, establishing ARV's and repair estimates on the few that do meet the standards.