Several years ago when a new survey was done on their property and the property next door, it was revealed that my parents propane gas tank (which was already in place when my parents bought the property) and part of the walkway (ditto) is encroaching upon the neighboring lot.

Started fresh this morning with a tour of the new place and a great meeting with @Michael Rodriguez who's in town from Denver doing some shopping for apartment complexes. 

Most of the time they are also licensed and would be able to help you appreciate if whatever the opportunity is a good value. 5) A LOT of these TK providers sell OLD properties which will need a lot of major components replaced if your inspection doesn't reveal the replacement of those systems "sometimes you can win betting on borrowed time" 

You can easily see a 100 year old house with a fresh roof, windows & hvac and you can see a 50s house with all of them towards the end of their useful life.  

I've heard a lot of strong opinions on "terminate immediately and start fresh."

I've heard a lot of strong opinions on "terminate immediately and start fresh."

I would like to keep using a cheap, larger format tile (so that we minimize grout lines) with dark colored grout, but need some fresh ideas to modernize it a bit. 

I realize that this may need some light fixing up here and there since it's not freshly rehabbed.

I am in a position pretty similar to you, (freshly) 25, finished up college a little over a year ago, and looking at getting into this in the next 6 months and move to the Winchester, VA area.

Take everything at face value, ask the seller to fully ratify a purchase contract, then if needed renegotiate price if things like Schedule E or estoppels reveal any mis-representation.