My sister had my parents' house passed down to her in a quick claim deed, which is also fully paid off Zestimate ~$420K, but she does have some "good debt", roof/windows for house $50K and car payments for her car and my mother's $25K= total debt $75K.

Here are the criteria that would determine it is a "log cabin style" v a true log cabin:- Foundation Walls = Concrete Block- Roof Surface = Metal or Shingles- Heating = FWA- Interior Walls = Drywall or Plaster

Quote from @Jennifer Roof: That's a noble thing to do.

However, in my market, realtors often ask for an offer before providing basic information like the age of the CAPEX items, including the roof. 

In April they had a roof leak problem, I got it all fixed by the end of May (nearly 2 months).

Good morning, the following property is up for sale at $250k.  114 S Broadway St, Toledo, IA 52342 | ZillowThe seller has 'described' it as follows:"The property features a new roof and updated electrical work completed two years ago at a cost of $120,000.

However, if a carport is an enclosed structure that looks like a building - meaning it has a roof with solid walls and a door, it will be considered real property (27.5/39 year). 

Next I would definitely walk the property extremely thoroughly, look for foundation problems, roof, hvac, appliances, every sqft of the property should be inspected. 

Rentals create cash flow, and that's what we want as real estate investors, but you need cash on hand for unforeseen circumstances.The AC needs to be replaced, that's $7K to $10K or more depending on the size of the house and if you have one rental, it will eat all your cash flow, same to replace a roof, etc, or if tenant trash the home, you need money to fix it again.To me personally a nice rental portfolio that is healthy consists about 10 units, so if you have an issue with a house the portfolio can cover the repairs and still healthy, but when starting you need to have cash on hand just in caseYes, there are multiple strategies you can use to hack your way to buy your first rental with minimum cash, but I would start wholesaling or fix and flip a few deals to create that cash as fast as possible

What about when you need a new roof?