That is the cost you need to protect against, if you need something besides preventing lead exposure in a child.  

, if the owners are negotiable and flexible, as it may seem due buyers already walking away and them being from out of state, they may be open to have you solve their problem with this parcel, If need be I would renegotiate the contract due to the condition of the structure and would renegotiate the time-frame to close in escrow, you can do that one of two ways, you pay the sales price and have the owner credit you at the close of escrow the cost of any repairs that are related to the integrity of the subterrainium pad or foundation footing for the building due to the flooding and the lack of preventive maintenance from the previous owners....Or second will seller adjust their sells price to be inline with true values and condition of structure?

So, Will NOT selling the house now prevent me from buying a investment property in the future?  

They say I will make mistakes that they can help prevent but I am afraid that spending $30k on a bus tour is my biggest mistake.

Lastly, there are no laws outside of the HOA preventing more than 20% rentals; that is some sort of HOA rule and the owners ARE the HOA.

Yea no complaints but I like to be proactive and be preventive since it is the only property I own. lol kind of easy to manage since it has my full attention.  

You can record a memo of your contract, creating a "cloud" that may prevent him from selling.  

Like, if you are a debt collector talking with them about a debt and they are in bankruptcy, then you would be prohibited from speaking with them on any debt related topic.Also, if you are subject to any local or state rules regarding foreclosure prevention companies soliciting borrowers, you might want to read up.

However, lenders have brought to light that state laws prevent them from charging me what they would need to charge me in order to finance this as an investment mortgage.Purchasing it with a conventional mortgage as my primary residence would work (I don't currently own any other property), it is not what I am trying to do here.

Kevin,I've looked for multifamily properties on the MLS on and off for two years while we saved up our initial investment capital, but I've never seen one posted that was in "beginner's shape", so to speak; always large issues with the properties that would either require more starting capital to repair than we have or will be able to leverage, or otherwise have issues that prevent conventional financing.