His next step is to call the building inspector or health department and have you cited for violations.

If you are that unsure of what to look for, spend some money to bring along a professional property inspector or a general contractor.The lessons learned will be worth it.

The primary Team members are Attorneys, real estate Agents, CPA's (or accountants), Inspectors, General Contractors, and Handymen.  

If you hold beyond these time frames, the compounded impact is exponential.Some investors combine cost segregation with bonus depreciation and they don't pay taxes for many years, they reinvest those savings and drive their after-tax returns up.The tax code is designed to stimulate commerce and this treatment gets investors to transact (which generates income for brokers, inspectors, appraisers, agents, title companies, attorneys, contractors, engineers, regulators...the list goes on).

I'll be reaching out to a planner and building inspector for their advice on this point: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/index.aspx?

A good inspector will find out about things you might not even think to ask about.

My dad advised me to stay away from this loan as it can have a lot of headaches between the inspector and the contractor not doing or estimating repairs.

- who are the inspectors I need to hire after getting it under contract? 

He only does permitted work as far as I can tell and has one city inspector assigned to his jobs, so he has a good relationship to get things done.  

@Anthony Stephenson, By talk to the codes dept, do you mean I need to get an inspector to come look at the property?