I need to find a foundation specialist who can look at this soon (before my inspection contingency expires) to determine how big of an issue it is and if it is possible to be repaired. 

You'll want to be sure that you know what their damage is before buying because when they come to do the inspection, the owner frequently has to make the repairs.

-The house Is in New York has- he has a fire extinguisher company and won't list it because he actually services many of the real estate companies and is afraid to favor one or the other and inturn lose a client- he has nine houses in Pennsylvania - original loan was 660k 760k if I remember correctly - has paid 250k- has all floors ( basement, 1st and 2nd) rented only top floor has a lease total rent colle is 5500- supposed market value is 1.1 million - he's willing to take 960k- might be open to terms since he's already renting.As long as he keeps the title-sounds like the house doesn't need many repairs but i have a friend that is a contractor and he can Help me assess any repairs Hes a savvy new yorker so  I rather give him options instead of just 1 cash offerCan anyone help me figure this out ?

Or just pay the repair cost when something breaks?

It seems like the trend is to make offers waiving the inspection contingency or having a short inspection contingency period, which makes it almost impossible to get a good idea on what repairs are needed and how much it will cost before I'm committed to the deal.

If you are selling it you would want to make all of these repairs (and more) anyway to get top dollar. 

She’s apparently been staying in it all week & decided the night before the repair to get a $168 room at the Marriott.

So if you have a $200K house, you don't have to have $200K of coverage -- $100K would be more than enough to pay for any repairs -- plus whatever amount of insurance to replace contents/belongings. 

Biggest thing that rookies forget is expenses & repairs, stuff comes up, dont spend the money!

If you can take a repair, take the repair since you won’t have to recapture later on.