This helps explain why most of the examples where I've seen this done are done with some sort of affordable component that includes low income housing tax credits or they're done in luxury areas where the rents justify the conversion costs.

Now that I officially know about the mold, I may have to pay about $20K (2 estimates so far) to clean it up, taking it back to the studs in some places, pulling back the baseboards in others, then cleaning with sporicide and doing air scrubbing in order to get an official clean bill of health since i can't rent or sell without that, having officially established that I have mold.

Agreed and from what I have seen so far, you can get a good read on the health of the town based on level of downtown revitalization efforts.

if he does the work,  he is either super cheap or can't afford to hire it out cause he will lose money. what u should look for is a run down place that u can bring back to life

Then there are times when the market is screaming higher (or for other reasons) you can afford to pay over 70%.

@Tom HarringtonThere are two main advantages an LLC has over anS-corporation.One advantage is that an LLC is governed by a private Operating Agreement that affords the company a tremendous amount of flexibility, whereas an S-corporation is governed by statutes and bylaws that limit the flexibility the company has with respect to management, profit distributions, meetings and more.

I'm not interested in being a slum lord, although Memphis seems to afford lots of opportunities for that.  

You will likely hear far more issues about her health once they're in, and more demands for repairs, improvements, rent reductions, etc.

It's best to do all the work you can afford, even if it's 5 years out.

I'm assuming that you're going to reject this offer, even though it is a full market price for the house, simply because you can't afford the commission.