Gonz, I am going down that path, but my concerns are that I purchase a 200k house that is only worth 100k or I pick up a rehab only to not sell it because the bottom falls out. 

Homes at the bottom of a valley may have water drainage problems, while those on a steep slope may have foundation issues if the ground moves.Year Built: I avoid homes older than 50-60 years, so if it was built before 1950, I will likely skip over it.

Bottom line is it doesn't matter what happened.

The drywall has been but out form the bottom in most rooms but there is no mold and I was told by a neighbor that it has only flooded once in the past few years.

I realize that the safety of a human being trumps my mortgage payment/bottom line - but am I allowed to ask for a copy of a police report?

This home has some kind of rock stone siding at the bottom part of it .

Sure, the last couple winters have been extremely mild, but Ohio in general is one of the  bottom 5 sun filled states in the US- it gets really, really old.Personally, I plan to get to 20 rentals (just acquired my 10th on Friday) and move south, targeting either the Carolina's or Arizona. 

Currently we are looking at 12k for a stairlift since it's a rounded staircase (only first 4 steps are in a straight line) vs anywhere between 10-25k for the bathroom depending on if we GC it ourselves.

Bottom line: Get an accountant.

How difficult is it and how expensive to replace the joists, I would assume they should probably all be replaced, approx 20 of them, would the whole floor need to be removed to work from on top or do you think 12-14" is enough space for someone to work from the bottom?