They'll tend to have more organization, block-clubs and government influence when it comes to services/police presence/being heard when change is needed. 2) DOM is a good indicator of the seller's motivation/willingness to sell low IF the home has been on-market for a long time.

To the landlords here, I'm sure I'm not the only landlord here to have experienced a nonpaying tenant make a lot of claims about b.s. repairs needed, often from damage they created, in order to break the lease and try to get their security deposit back.

Could this possibly be termite damage?

If the area is good the other items can be fixed.If the area is bad it doesn't matter what you do.You could make it the nicest building in a bad area and the tenant calls you get from the pictures once they see the area and other buildings they won't rent from you.Then you are left with the type of tenants living there now.Also is to check on how big of a loan balance is on this property.This landlord might have tons of deferred costs because the debt service is taking all of the cash flow.They can't evict the current tenants because they have no money to rehab the units.You also need to know the eviction process for the area.Even if you get a writ the marshals office could have hundreds to serve that month and a 4 day process takes 6 weeks for them to come out.Even if you account for lost rent when buying to evict these tenants you will not know what kind of damage they will do before you get them out.John do not believe the seller or the brokers agent.This might be a deal but only at the right price.The seller cannot command a premium and dump of problems at the same time (unless the buyer is a sucker or a first time purchaser which sadly sellers hope for).

There are many variables that influence your insurance cost.

Lying or intentionally misleading an appraiser is an attempt to influence the appraisal, IMO and is a violation of law.Marketing is nothing more than legalized deceit, so long as you don't make false claims, IMO.

The question is people that are predators usually do not have a nickel to their name and want to use an attorney on a pro bono (free until money is won) basis.The attorney will not take the free case and allocate their time if they believe they cannot get the insurance company to pay some money to go away or they will lose in court with a weak case.If you have someone that already has a bunch of money and is not thinking straight of course many attorneys will take their money and file knowing their client cannot win.So suing,winning damages in court,and COLLECTING MONEY from those damages are 3 totally separate things.What court does is suck away time and money and takes away from your productivity in business.You would want an LLC or otherwise just for an extra layer of protection and for tax purposes and business write offs.Your brokerage E and O you would need to look up maximum coverage,deductible,and exclusions in the policy.No legal advice

It doesn't look like mold, it almost looks like tar or something.Also it looks like there is some water damage on the overhang from the roof (along with missing gutter) and inside the kitchen ceilings.

In exchange for eliminating this debt, they're going to lose the house and suffer significant damage to their credit.

Depending on what your goals and strengths are will greatly influence the best strategies you should employ.I agree with Ratho, Dave Van Horn has excellent info on non-performing notes.