My concern is protecting my investment, not his budget.

I am concerned the cost of remodeling may be expensive because the existing ceiling height is only 6.5 feet so we would need to lower the floor by at least a foot.

With that said, keep an eye on your credit, of course, yet I wouldn't be overly concerned. 

Clearly they are built to 175 mph wind standards today, so that shouldn’t be a concern.  

Because from what I see  listing, I have concerns about not finding something cash flow positive-what do you expect long term from the York area in general (not real estate valuations necessarily, but do you see the area changing any particular way over the next few decades)?

I also think the rent amount is too high for a venmo transaction but I have the same concern for using venmo as I do for Paypal.

The thing that would concern me the most are the smoke detectors in the common areas (hallways and basement). they are supposed to be hardwired and connected. if one goes off all of them should go off. fortunately for you that is something easy to test.

I would be very concerned if you engage him to be your professional!

At that point, he/she does have liability because they're failing to disclose a material fact concerning the property. 

Obviously building new eliminates a lot of the cap ex concerns that you would have with a 100 year old property (roof, foundation, siding, etc).