Not only did he say it could be cleaned and possibly bring the smell back, he recommended it get replaced.

I actually do KNOW how the fire started (the owner was smoking in an upstairs bedroom) so I BELIEVE the damage is fairly minimal (and contained) but someone I know said to me "oh, there's smoke damage, forget about it, the smoke permeates EVERYTHING and the only way to get rid of the smell is to gut the entire house (which is why I was worried).CK Hwang - that you for validated what I was thinking.  

Another has a strong mold smell.

While I agree with Steve this is not showing the pattern of a well orchestrated DoS, it does not smell like Ad Spamming either.  

I noticed the moving boxes and furniture (couch) smelled really bad of cigarette smoke. 

The landlord said we would be charged for a prorated portion of the carpet since it apparently smelled of dog in spite of the fact that I got it professionally cleaned.

Has any body have experience flipping houses in this area?

I guess what I'm saying is STEP 2 is find some body willing to loan or surrender ( distressed seller) enough value or money for you to buy the property.

If you get to busy body about people in and out of the unit then your just going to confuse the court and they will think you don't know how to handle the mater.

List the town name in the subject header and body of post.