The one thing we did agree on was trying to determine the condition of the roof.

The tenants you could attract would be the final determinant.

Hi Vickie,Congratulations, your determination will get you far I'm sure!

Unfortunately, conventional lenders will use the LOWER of the appraised value OR the actual purchase price to determine the LTV and down payment required. 

Then determine what their acceptance criteria is.

Some things that I have found over the years are lot lines wrong, buildings not on the property, seller isn't technically the owner, IRS lien for more than value of property, right of ways, to name a few.

For instance, when someone defaults on a federal tax debt, the IRS may file a lien on the defaulted amount.

The IRS looks at this as if all profits created by the LLC belong to the IRA and are not taxed until you use them at retirement.

From that time onward, we have used property managers, as well as an enrolled agent, who can represent us in our place should we have to deal with the IRS. 

Do people identify partners, set up an LLC (which could take weeks), find a property and then create the operating agreement to determine ownership?