After you've given a clear SOW and a walk through there should be no question on price unless unforeseen problems arise.

Only thing that will prevent finishing on time is unforeseen issues with the house....or inspection times are days out.

@Ben Pohle for this specific circumstance, my girlfriend's brother in law is involved with the city council.  

The IRS generally looks at intent as well as actual facts and circumstances of each transaction.TL;dr - holding something for a year and a day will not necessarily make it capital gains.

Only 3 out of 100 have life circumstances that make them super motivated and they want to sell fast and for a discount.

What circumstances could arise to prevent me from selling it right away.

Now if the market is rising in value the bank might be slow to do anything as they likely get  a higher price by waiting.Each property and circumstance is situational.

There's so many variables and complexities to taxes that make it difficult to obtain appropriate guidance for your specific circumstances from this forum, or any forum for that matter.

While I'm all for encouraging investment in our city (assuming of course it isn't slumlord type investment, we don't need any more of that) you're talking about what is most likely a full time endeavor and as far as long term appreciation, unless you hit it just right and hit an area that has a big gentrification component down the road, long term appreciation of any substantial amount is unlikely, so you're left with cash flow and when you're normally talking about older to just plain OLD housing stock, thus higher or much higher annual maintenance costs to keep a safe and habitable rental property and keep you off of the city's "slumlord radar" which you DO NOT want to get onto, combined with tenants who are often a real crap shoot (yes, you CAN find great tenants who care about keeping a decent home even in the poorest parts of town, we have decent people in all parts of this city who are trying to build a better life for themselves and their families, yet you will also run into many who don't care, who bring unforeseen issues which seem to ALWAYS=extra, unforeseen costs to the landlord, whether you're here on the ground fixing the issue yourself or DIY plus pro help when necessary, or long distance via a PM (always going to likely cost much more)) and the wonderful looking cash flow component, which due to the very likely lack of any appreciation component, is all that's left for profit potential, also can quickly vaporize in front of you!

@Dmitriy Fomichenko I agree that IRS can always look at the "total facts and circumstances" of any transaction, to determine "intent" but your intesions are extremely hard to determine and your even allowed to change your intentions,  For example, if I buy a property with the intent to flip but then can't sell it and change your intentions and decide to rent it.