The effort and costs of this approach would be on par with proper cleaning and multiple coats of painting that have previously been mentioned.Removing the cinder block would be a structural modification and I would not recommend that with out someone with experience.Show us what you end up doing.

It seems easy and free, requiring only eyes, ears and brain, but it requires time and dedicated effort so no one shares their thoughts with a potential competitor.

Fighting is rarely worth the effort.

As far as investing elsewhere, I am not sure your current budget would make any of that effort safe or worth it especially if that move takes away the first time homeowner status/assistance. 

And the amount of knowledge, effort and work he has to put into that to make just $70k per year is crazy.

Instead of chasing phantoms, put that effort into shopping for decent properties for a good price.

If you found this without any efforts of this agent and the seller has no formal written agreement with that agent, then keeping the agent out could be beneficial.

I am looking for anyone that can offer advice on the secret to balancing all of these successfully.

Finding a property- or rather, getting to the point that you feel confident that you can choose the right property- does take time and effort.

:) More people need to get inside the house and you'll find a buyer.Yeah if the back is that noticeable probably need to put more effort that normally required then.That being said if it was listed at $99K probably wouldn't have to many issues...