Buy a house where meth was cooked, pay the biggest environmental remediation bill of your career.  

Again, this is just my understanding of things, as 'food for though'.

@Ethan Cooke Awesome, thank you!

Food for thought.

His insurance should cover it, then if he wants to push liability down the food chain that's on him.

Food for thought:  the $5000 you are expecting to spend on repairs, are they needed maintenance items or more cosmetic type improvements?  

Have you gone to the Cook County Assessor website (property taxes) and pulled any records on the property?

I am not trying to kill your dream, just adding some food for thought. 

Then after you buy all the properties you want then you can end your "acquisition phase" and you can go back to cooking your books and writing off all your expenses and never pay taxes again.

Then I’d look into a pest control technologies degree because they will leave food out all day which always attracts vermin .